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DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD; 


THE  HUMAN  SOUL, 


ITS  MIGRATIONS  AND  ITS  TRANSMIGRATIONS. 


IJjomtb  frg  %  ^mtxntxmx. 


"  I  have  stolen  the  golden  keys  of  the  Egyptians ;  I  will  indulge  m>  sacred 
fury."— Kepler. 

"  What  is  here  written  is  truth,  therefore  it  cannot  die." — Poe. 

"  I  have  found  it !  This  night  have  I  read  the  Mystic  Scroll.  The  Grand  Secret 
of  the  Age  stands  revealed.  It  is  mine  !  Alone  I  delved  for  it,  alone  I  have  found 
it !   Now  let  the  world  laugh  !    I  am  immortal  I"— P.  B.  Randolph. 


UTICA,  N.  Y. : 

PUBLISHED  BY  M.  J.  RANDOLPH. 

1861->62. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1861, 

By  ALEXANDER  BRADY, 

In  the  Clek's  office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  District  of 

Massachusetts. 


DEDICATION. 


TO  MY  FAR  OFF  AND  BEST  BELOVED  FRIEND,  BY  WHOSE  ROYAL  BOUNTY 
I  AM  ENABLED  TO  BRTNtJ  THIS  BOOK  BEFORE  THE  WORLD  ;*  AND  TO  ALL  WHO 
FEEL  AND  LTKEWISE  THTNK  J  AND  TO  ALL  WHO  HAVE  SUFFERED  ON  THEHJ 
WAY  THROUGH  THIS  WORLD  AS  I  HAVE,  THIS  VOLUME  IS  DEDICATED  BY 

THE  SON  OF  FLORA. 


PREFACE. 


Some  men  are  daily  dying ;  some  die  ere  they  have 
learned  how  to  live  ;  and  some  find  their  truest  account 
in  revealing  the  mysteries  of  both  life  and  death, — even 
fhile  they  themselves  perish  in  the  act  of  revelation, 
as  is  most  wonderfully  done  in  the  remarkable  volume 
now  before  the  reader, — as,  alas !  almost  seems  to  be 
the  case  with  the  penman  of  what  herein  follows. 

The  criterion  of  the  value  of  a  man  or  woman  is  the 
kind  and  amount  of  good  they  do  or  have  done.  The 
standard  whereby  to  judge  a  thinker,  consists  in  the 
mental  treasures  which  during  life  they  heap  up  for  the 
use  and  benefit  cf  the  age  that  is,  and  those  which  are 
to  be,  when  the  fitful  fever  of  their  own  sorrowful  lives 
shall  be  ended,  and  they  have  passed  away  to  begin  in 
:  tern  reality  their  dealings  with  the  dead.  He  or  she 
who  adds  even  one  new  thought  to  the  age  becomes 
■  at  age's  great  benefactor,  to  whom  in  future  times 
grateful  men  shall  erect  monuments  and  statues.  Well, 
here  follows  the  work  of  a  man,  for  to  hand  penned 


4  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

every  line,  and  the  ideas  were  born  of  his  soul,  not- 
withstanding his  own  disclaimer,  for  not  every  one  can 
understand  the  mystical  Blending  by  means  of  which  he 
claims  to  have  reached  the  ultima  thule  of  human  know- 
ledge, and  most  readers,  while  reveling  m  the  delights 
whereof  so  rich  a  store  is  laid  before  them,  will  insist 
that  these  glories  were  begotten  of  his  own  soul.  Be  that 
as  it  may,  however,  here  is  one,  who,  measured  by  the 
standard  of  the  world  itself,  merits  a  monument  stronger 
than  iron,  more  endurable  than  granite,  the  gratitude  of 
every  soul  that  sighs  for  immortality  ;  for  not  a  single 
new  thought,  but  whole  platoons  of  them,  grand  and  mag- 
nificent, hath  he  here  presented,  a  deathless  legacy  to 
the  world  ;  and  bye-and-bye  these  thoughts  of  '  Cynthia/ 
these  '  Dealings  with  the  Dead/  will  become  a  beacon 
on  the  Highway  of  Thought,  and  be  remembered  to  the 
everlasting  glory  of  the  sufferer  who  penned  them. 
Eest,  Paschal,  rest,  my  brother  ;  thou  brother  and  lover 
of  thy  race,  for  thy  work  is  well  done  ;  thy  thoughts 
can  never  die.  The  bad  will  hate,-  but  all  who  love 
Truth,  Goodness,  and  Beauty,  will  bless  thee,  and  crown 
thy  name  with  fadeless  laurels.  G-.  D.  S. 


INTRODUCTION. 


Dear  Reader,  your  humble  servant  here  presents 
you  with  a  somewhat  curious,  novel,  yet  suggestive  and 
thought-provoking  work.  So  far  as  mere  language  is 
concerned,  it  might  have  been  sent  forth  upon  its  travels 
up  and  down  the  world,  clad  in  better  raiment ;  but  as 
I  had  nothing  better  than  linsey-woolsey  whereof  to 
fashion  its  apparel,  why,  it  must  e'en  take  its  chance  in 
that. 

A  man's  coat  amounts  to  but  little  at  the  best,  com- 
pared to  the  man  inside  it, — and  so  of  books.  It  is  not 
always  your  gilt-edged  annual  that  either  carries  the 
most  precious  freight,  or  does  the  most  good  in  the 
world  ;  hence  so  far  as  the  verbal  clothing  of  my  pre- 
cious babe,  this  child  of  my  soul  is  concerned,  so  far 
as  relates  to  the  terms  wherein  that  here  offered  is 
couched,  nothing  need  be  said  apologetically.  If  the 
dress  suits,  well  and  good  ;  if  not,  it  is  even  well ; — the 
writer  has  done  the  very  best  that  could  be  done,  no 
one  can  do  more.  In  making  the  assertions,  the  weird 
and  strange  revealments  contained  within  the  lids  of 
this  book,  no  one  can  be  better  aware  of  the  risk  en- 
countered of  being  laughed  at  by  the  wise  people  of 
this  wise  age,  than  I  am.  Doubtless  there  are  those 
who  will  cavil,  deride,  sneer  at  and  condemn  the  author 
and  the  work  :  but  what  of  that  ?  My  truths,  if  truths 
indeed  they  be,  and  to  me,  they  are  intensly  such,  will 
live.  Why  ?  Because  they  were  chipped  off  the  Rock 
of  Truth  itself,  and  therefore  will  unquestionably  sur- 


6  DEALINGS  WITH  THE   DEAD. 

vive  many  a  laugh,  as  have  other  truths  ere  now.  They 
and  their  discoverer  can  well  afford  being  laughed  at. 
The  author  feels  that  when  the  great  Beaper,  Death, 
shall  have  done  his  work,  these  same  truth-seeds  will 
spring  up  into  Form,  Life,  and  Beauty : — all  for  the 
gladdening  of  the  people  : — and  this  feeling,  this  inner 
prophecy  of  and  to  the  soul,  contents  and  satisfies  the 
being.  Friendly  reader,  when  this  body  shall  have 
gone  back  to  the  dust  whence  it  sprung  in  the  hopeful 
years  gone  by  ;  when  this  soul  shall  be  nestling  in  the 
bosom  of  its  Saviour  and  his  God,  people  who  then 
shall  read  these  pages  will  find,  if  not  before,  more  in 
that  which  the  heart-weary  one  has  here  written,  than 
either  a  psychological  romance,  or  the  daring  specula- 
tions of  undisciplined  genius. 

The  foregoing  observations  have  reference  more  es- 
pecially to  the  first  part  of  this  work,  which  is  pre- 
sented in  the  form  of  Revelations  from  the  Dead.  It 
does  not  owe  its  origin  to  what  is  ordinarily  known 
as  "  Spiritualism"  : — it  did  not  come  -either  by  the 
"  Baps,"  "  Tips,"  "Table-turning,"  "Speaking  medium- 
ship,"  "  Writing,"  or  in  any  other  of  the  modes  so 
commonly  claimed  for  the  mass  of  "  Spiritual"  litera- 
ture, now  so  widely  circulated  and  read.  The  pro- 
cess by  which  what  follows  came,  is  to  me  as  weirdly 
strange  and  novel,  as  anything  can  well  be.  I  call  this 
process  The  Blending. 

The  people  called  "  Mediums,"  a  singular  order  among 
men,  set  forth  that  their  bodies  are,  for  the  time  being, 
vacated  by  their  souls,  and  that  during  the  vacation,  the 
soul  of  some  one  else,  one  who  has  died,  and  yet  lives, 
takes  possession  of  the  physical  structure,  and  then  pro- 
ceeds to  give  forth  his  or  her  wisdom  or  folly  for  the 
enlightenment  or  darkening  of  men's  minds.  Another 
class  tell  us  that  they  are  "  impressed"  by  a  departed 
one  to  give  voice  to  the  Spirit's  thought ;  others  declare 
that  they  are  "  obsessed."  "Well,  it  may  all  be  so,  or  it 
may  not.     I  do  not  assume  or  presume  to  decide  one  way 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  7 

or  the  other  :  all  that  need  be  said  on  this  point  is,  that 
this  book  does  not  owe  its  origin  to  either  or  any  of 
these  methods. 

Machiavelli,  the  great  Italian  diplomat,  is  said  to 
have  gained  a  thorough  and  complete  knowledge  and 
insight  of  the  state,  frame  of  mind,  and  intentions  of 
other  men,  through  a  wonderful  power  which  he,  above 
most,  if  not  all  men,  possessed,  of  completely  identify- 
ing himself  by  an  intense  desire  and  volition,  with  those 
with  whom  he  came  in  contact.  To  such  an  extent  and 
degree  did  he  possess  this  power,  that  it  was  an  easy 
task  to  circumvent  and  overreach  most,  if  not  all  his 
diplomatic  opponents.  He  placed  himself  by  a  mental 
effort,  and  physical  as  well,  in  the  exact  position  occu- 
pied for  the  time  being  by  his  antagonists,  or  the  person 
he  designed  to  read. 

No  matter  what  the  mood  indicated  by  the  physical 
appearance,  or  the  outward  manifestation  of  what  was 
going  on  within,  away  down  in  the  deeps  of  being,  was, 
he  immediately  moulded  his  features  by  the  model  thus 
furnished.  "  I  am  now  in  his  place,"  said  he,  mentally, 
"  and  will  see  how  to  act,  think  and  feel  from  his  posi- 
tion ;  and,  for  the  time  being,  I  sink  my  own  personality, 
my  opinions,  views, — in  short  all  my  self-hood,  preju- 
dices, likes,  dislikes,  and  all  else  beside  ; — in  a  word,  I 
transmute  Machiavelli  into  the  other  man : — which 
being  effected,  I  shall  be,  to  all  intents  and  purposes, 
that  other  man  for  the  time  being,  and  of  course  will 
feel  as  he  feels,  see  as  he  sees,  know  as  he  knows,  and  be 
impelled  to  action  by  the  identical  motives  whereby  he 
is  prompted. 

All  the  world  knows  that  Machiavelli  succeeded  to 
a  wonderful  extent ;  and  by  this  power  of  assumption, 
this  easy,  yet  mysterious  blending,  he  often,  in  fact, 
nearly  always,  baffled  his  foes,  and  the  foes  of  the  State, 
so  that  now  a  successful  diplomatist  is  said  to  be  pur- 
suing the  Machiavellian  policy. 

Almost  any  person  can  make  successful  experiments 


8  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

in  this — Science,  shall  I  call  it  ? — and  will  be  surprised 
at  the  results.  A  man  or  woman  appears  before  you 
with  features  bearing  the  impress  of  a  certain  kind  of 
thought — and  you  can  find  out  what  kind  by  placing 
your  own  features,  so  far  as  possible,  in  the  same 
shape  ;  keep  them  thus  for  several  minutes,  and  you 
will  become  absorbed  in  the  same  that  absorbs  the 
individual  before  you,  and  in  a  short  time  will  become 
an  adept  in  the  art  of  Soul-reading. 

Many  men,  and  a  still  greater  number  of  women,  who 
possessed  the  power  alluded  to,  have  existed  in  all 
times  past ;  but,  above  all  others,  the  age  we  live  in 
has  been  prolific  of  such — so  that  now  it  is  not  at  all 
difficult  to  find  those  who  will  enter  at  will,  almost,  the 
very  abysses,  labyrinths,  and  most  secret  recesses  of 
your  being.  Indeed,  persons  abound  in  nearly  all  the 
great  cities  of  the  world  who  attain  high  honor  and  re- 
nown— to  say  nothing  of  the  benefits  of  competence, 
and  even  wealth — by  the  exercise  of  this  marvellous 
faculty. 

There  are  many  wise  ones  who  admit  the  existence 
of  this  power,  yet  deny  its  attainability  by  the  many,  and 
who  stoutly  maintain  that  it  is  a  special  gift  of  the 
Creator  to  a  favored  few.  Against  such  a  verdict  the 
writer  begs  leave  most  respectfully  to  protest ;  and 
these  are  the  grounds  upon  which  that  protest  is  based  : 

All  human  powers  and  faculties  are  latent,  until  time, 
circumstance,  and  discipline  bring  them  out.  All 
human  beings  are  created  alike  in  so  lar  forth  as  the 
germinal  powers  are  concerned.  All  men  naturally 
love  sweet  sounds,  and,  if  this  taste  be  cultivated  at  an 
early  day,  are  capable  of  musical  appreciation,  if  not 
of  vocal  or  instrumental  execution.  The  seeds  of  all 
unfolding  lie  jyerdu,  or  latent,  in  every  human  being  ; 
they  are  the  property  of  Soul ;  in  Soul-soil  they  are 
imbedded,  and  from  that  soil  they  must  eventually  put 
forth  the  shoot,  the  shrub,  the  tree,  the  branch,  leaf, 
blossom,  and  finally  the  fruit.    Every  faculty,  strictly 


DEALINGS  WITH   THE  DEAD.  9 

human,  belongs  to,  and  is  a  part  of,  every  member  of 
the  species  ;  and  that — this  fact  being  admitted,  though 
any  given  one  or  more  may  be  manifested  most  power- 
fully by  some,  and  not  at  all  by  others — all  of  them  are 
one  day  to  be  developed,  called  out,  unfolded,  in  all, 
is  a  plain  inference  ;  nay,  an  absolute  certainty.  The 
power  to  see  without  eyes,  demonstrated  by  scores  and 
hundreds  of  clairvoyants,  is  not  a  gift  peculiar  to  a  cer- 
tain man  or  woman,  or  to  a  certain  order  of  people.  It 
is  a  power  that  can  be  had  for  the  trying,  as  any  good 
mesmerist  will  affirm  and  prove. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  expression  of  the  Crucified, 
"  I  and  my  Father  are  one,"  contains  a  direct  affirma- 
tion of  the  possibility  of  this  blending.  God  was  to 
Jesus  the  very  essence  of  goodness  ;  Jesus  strove  to  be 
also  most  thoroughly  good,  and  succeeded  in  reaching 
that  point  where  Himself  was  in  perfect  blending  with 
the  entire  universe  of  Goodness,  and  therefore  with 
the  Fount  of  all  Excellence. 

Perfect  blending  is  perfect  love ;  and  whether  that 
love  be  toward  the  person,  the  outer  self,  the  body  ;  or 
toward  the  soul,  or  the  mental  treasures,  or  the  secret 
self  of  another,  the  results  are  in  degree,  if  not  in  kind, 
the  same. 

Mental  telegraphy  will  be  a  perfect  success,  when- 
ever two  persons  can  be  found  in  whom  the  power  of 
entering  the  region  of  Sympathia  shall  normally  exist. 
A  few  can  transmit  thought  to,  and  receive  thought 
back  from,  others,  even  now  ;  but  presently  scores  of 
people  will  develop  the  ability. 

Now,  this  blending  is  not  a  mere  magnetic  union  of 
physical  spheres,  but  is  a  Soul-process  nearly  alto- 
gether. 

Lov e,  in  its  essence,  is  a  thing  of  the  Spiritual  part 
of  us,  though,  alas  !  it  is  often  put  to  base  uses. 

There  was  once,  not  many  years  ago,  a  woman  to 
whom  I  felt  such  a  love  as  that  subsisting  between 
affectionate  sisters ;  for  it  was  deeper,  purer,  calmer 


10  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

than  that  which  binds  brothers  together.  In  life,  her 
soul  drew  near,  almost  fearfully  near,  to  mine  ;  she 
thought  my  thoughts,  read  my  spirit,  sympathized  with 
me  in  all  my  joys,  my  sorrows,  and  my  aspirations. 
Often  have  we  sat  beside  each  other — that  poor  sick 
girl  and  I ;  and  though  no  word  broke  the  stillness  of 
the  sacred  hour,  yet  not  a  region  of  our  souls  was  there 
but  was  explored  by  the  other;  not  a  silent  thought  that 
was  not  mutually  understood  and  replied  to.  Presently 
she  died — the  forms  were  forever  separated,  yet  not  for 
a  day  were  the  mystic  soul-links  which  bound  us  to- 
gether severed.  No  sister  was  ever  more  dearly  loved 
than  I  loved  her  ;  and  that  love  was  fully  and  as 
purely  returned.  Everybody  called  her  "Sister" — 
everybody  felt  that  to  them  she  was  truly  such. 

Well,  she  died  ;  and  after  a  year  or  two  had  passed, 
I  began  to  understand  that  at  times  her  soul  was  near 
me,  and  many  and  oft  were  the  periods  in  which  I  did 
not  seem  to  be  myself,  but  had  an  invincible  conviction 
that  I  was  Cynthia  for  the  time  being,  instead  of  who 
and  what  I  am.  By-and-by  there  came  a  consciousness 
of  this  blending,  so  deep,  so  clearly  defined,  so  calm, 
that  at  last  I  began  to  appreciate  a  mighty,  almost 
resistless  Will  and  Purpose  behind  it  all;  for  I  was  my- 
self and  Cynthia — never  simultaneously,  as  is  asserted 
to  be  the  case  with  many  of  the  people  called  "  Me- 
diums " — but  in  separate  instants — now  her,  then  my- 
self ;  at  first  very  imperfectly,  but  gradually  approach- 
ing an  absolute  and  complete  mergement  of  Soul. 

This  continued  for  nearly  two  years,  at  intervals,  and 
after  about  eighteen  months  had  passed,  one  portion  of 
the  process  seemed  to  have  reached  completeness — for 
in  a  degree  it  changed,  and  instead  of  momentary,  as 
before,  the  transmutations  became  longer,  until  at  last, 
as  now,  the  changes  last  sixty,  and  in  one  instance  has 
reached  two  hundred  and  forty-five  minutes. 

It  may  here  be  asked :  "  Where  are  you  in  the  in- 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  11 

We  are  two  in  one,  yet 
the  stronger  rules  the  hour." 

It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  this  condition  is  as 
widely  separated  from  those  incident  to  the  "  Medi- 
ums," as  theirs  is  supposed  to  be  different  from  the 
ordinary  wakeful  mood.  They  reach  their  state  by  a 
sort  of  retrocession  from  themselves  ;  they  fall,  or  claim 
to  fall,  into  a  peculiar  kind  of  slumber,  their  own  facul- 
ties going,  as  it  were,  to  sleep.  On  the  contrary,  mine 
is  the  direct  opposite  of  this,  for,  instead  of  a  sleep  of 
any  sort,  there  comes  an  intense  wakefulness.  Nor  is 
this  all  in  which  we  differ  ;  as  are  the  processes  and 
states  apart,  so  also  are  the  results  different. 

The  revelations  of  Spiritual  existences,  moods,  modes, 
and  conditions  of  being,  as  given  by  nearly  every 
"  Spiritual  Medium "  of  whom  I  have  ever  heard  or 
read,  are,  to  say  the  least,  totally  unsatisfactory  to  the 
great  majority  of  those  who  seek  for  information  on  the 
vital  question  of  Immortality — how,  and  why,  and  to 
what  great  end  we   are  thus  gifted  and  endowed? 

Another,  and  equally  important  one,  is  that  concern- 
ing the  Soul-world,  and  the  inhabitants  thereof — how 
they  live,  where  they  live,  and  to  what  end  and  use  ? 

I  believe  that  light  is,  in  this  volume,  thrown  on  all 
these  great  and  vital  points  ;  such  light,  indeed,  as  will 
be  hailed  and  appreciated  by  all  who  read  and  think, 
as  well  as  by  those  who  read  and  feel — two  widely 
different  classes,  but  to  both  of  whom  these  pages  are 
humbly,  yet  hopefully  addressed. 

The  process,  strange,  wierd,  and  altogether  unusual, 
to  which  allusion  has  been  made,  went  on  for  a  long 
time  ;  and  by  slow  degrees  I  felt  that  my  own  person- 
ality was  not  lost  to  me,  but  completely  swallowed  up, 
so  to  speak,  in  that  of  a  far  more  potent  mentality.  A 
subtlety  of  thought,  perception  and  understanding  be- 
came mine  at  times,  altogether  greater  than  I  had  ever 
known  before  ;  and  occasionally,  during  these  strange 
blendings  of  my  being  with  another,  I  felt  that  other's 


12  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

feelings,  thought  that  other's  thoughts,  read  that  other's 
past,  aspired  with  that  other's  aspirations,  and  talked, 
spoke,  and  reasoned  with  and  under  that  other's  inspi- 
ration. For  a  time  I  attributed  these  exaltations  of 
Soul  to  myself  alone,  and  supposed  that  I  was  not  at  all 
indebted  to  foreign  aid  for  many  of  the  thoughts  to 
which,  at  such  moments,  I  frequently  gave  utterance  ; 
but  much  study  of  the  matter  has  at  length  convinced 
me,  not  only  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  Soul-worlds 
have  much  to  do  in  moulding  the  great  world's  future, 
but  that  occasionally  they  so  manage  things  that  their 
thoughts  are  often  spoken,  and  their  behests,  ends,  and 
purposes  fulfilled  by  us  mortals,  when  we  imagine  that 
we  alone  are  entitled  to  the  sole  credit  of  much  that  we 
say,  think,  and  do,  when  the  fact  is,  we  doubtless  are 
oftentimes  merely  the  proxies  of  others,  and  act  our 
allotted  role  in  a  drama  whose  origin  is  entirely  super- 
natural, and  the  whole  direction  of  which  is  conducted 
by  personages  beyond  the  veil.* 

Well,  one  day,  it  so  happened  that  I  repaired  to  a 
beautiful  village  in  one  of  the  New  England  States,  on 
a  visit  to  some  very  kind  and  well-beloved  friends — the 
brother  and  the  sister  of  the  rare  maiden  whose  won- 
drous thoughts  abound  in  the  volume  now  before  the 
reader  ;  and  while  there,  the  conversation  ran  on  topics 
wide  apart  from  either  Mesmerism  or  its  great  cognate, 
"  Spiritualism."  During  the  time  that  had  elapsed  since 
my  last  visit  to  the  beautiful  village,  some  two  years, 
Death  had  been  busily  gathering  his  harvests  in  all  the 
regions  round  about ;  nor  had  he  kept  aloof  from  the 
house  on  the  hill.  No  !  cruel  Death  had  been  over  its 
threshold,  and  Azrael  had  carried  two  precious  souls 
over  the  Dark  Eiver.  These  were  Cynthia  and  her 
mother. 

After  partaking  of  a  sorrow-seasoned  meal,  mourn- 

*  That  many  of  them  are  inhabitants  of  other  spheres,  beings  who 
never  lived  on  this  earth,  I  am  firmly  convinced.  My  reasons  will  be 
given  in  the  sequel  to  this  present  volume. 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  13 

fully,  and  with  aching  heart  and  tearful  eye,  we,  the 
left-bchind  and  myself,  took  our  way  toward  the  ground 
where  lay  the  sacred  form  of  her  we  loved  so  deeply, 
so  fully  ;  and  there  I  wept,  and  the  great  salt  tears 
bedewed  the  sod — for,  indeed,  my  heart,  poor,  weary, 
troubled  heart,  was  almost  breaking.  Soon  we  re- 
turned to  the  house  upon  the  hill,  and  I  lay  me  down 
upon  the  sofa,  near  the  window — the  very  sofa  whereon 
her  sainted  form  was  wont  to  recline  in  the  days 
now,  alas !  fled,  with  her,  forever  and  forevermore — 
that  same  little  sofa  whereon  she  used  to  sit  and 
converse  with  us,  with  her  sister  Clarinda,  the  gentle 
and  the  good  John  Hart,  and  her  well-beloved  Jona- 
than, with  my  humble  self,  and  a  few  select  and  sober- 
minded  lovers  of  the  good  and  true ;  used  to  sit  and 
converse  upon  the  mysteries  of  the  Great  Beyond,  and 
touching  the  realities  of  that  other  world,  to  which 
Disease  was  remorselessly,  and  with  relentless  purpose, 
fast  urging  her  life-car.  *  *  *  And  I  threw  myself 
upon  the  sofa  ;  and  as  I  lay  there,  with  closed  eyes,  I 
beheld  the  flitting  ghosts  of  iqany  a  dead  day,  with  all 
its  troops  of  glad  and  bitter  memories,  when  suddenly 
it  seemed  that  I  was  no  longer  myself — for  so  deep  and 
perfect  was  the  blending,  that  I  had  not  merely  an  in- 
surmountable assurance  that  my  body  contained,  for  the 
time  being,  two  complete  souls,  but  even  the  very 
thoughts,  modes  of  expression,  and  memory  of  the  de- 
parted one  was  mine  ;  and  yet  this  possession  did  not, 
for  an  instant,  subvert  my  own  individuality.  I  was 
there,  and  so  was  she.  For  the  time  being,  we  two 
were  not  merely  as,  but  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  we 
actually  were,  one. 

Arising  from  the  recumbent  position,  my  body  as- 
sumed certain  singularities  of  movement  peculiar  to 
her  before  she  flew  up  to  her  home  in  the  bright  em- 
pyrean, and  these  words  were  spoken  :  "  The  experi- 
ences and  history  of  a  Soul  must  be  written,  for  the 
benefit  of  the   people.     I,  we,  intend  to  write  it.     A 


14  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

book  shall  be  produced,  containing  the  facts  of  a  living, 
dying,  dead  and  transfigured  human  being — containing 
the  reasons  why  men  live  after  death,  and  the  methods 
of  their  after  life  and  being.  This  book  shall  contain 
an  account  of  the  experience  of  two  human  beings — the 
one,  while  temporarily  disenthralled  ;  the  other,  when 
permanently  so — shall  contain  the  experience  of  Cyn- 
thia during  her  passage  from  earth  to  the  grave  of 
earthly  hope  and  being,  and  a  history  of  what  befell 
thereafter." 

These  were  the  spoken  words.  Once  more  I  resumed 
my  personality,  and  attended  to  the  affairs  of  the  busy 
world.  In  other  days  the  promises  were  kept,  and  this 
first  book  was  written. 

Nothing  further  need  be  said  by  way  of  introduction 
to  what  follows,  further  than  to  observe  that  certain 
Soul-experiences;  related  in  the  second  part,  were  mine 
— the  writer's — while  the  reasonings  are  not  wholly 
such. 


(tptftte.:  %lu  gmWmU. 


I  purpose  to  say  nothing  whatever  concerning  my 
life  as  a  denizen  of  the  outside  world — of  my  existence 
or  career  while  clothed  with  the  garments  of  mortality. 
It  is  of  my  death  that  first  I  wish  to  speak,  and  of  what 
took  place  thereafter — of  where  and  how  I  found  my- 
self as  soon  as  the  icy  hand  of  Death  had  touched  my 
heart,  and  frozen  up  my  vitals.  While  with  my  friends, 
from  whom  the  change  separated  me,  I  was,  so  far  as 
frail  mortals  in  my  condition  of  bodily  health  can  be, 
quite  happy  and  contented — contented  to  endure,  with 
all  possible  patience,  that  for  which  there  was  no 
medicament,  no  remedy  ;  and,  all  things  considered, 
satisfied  I  lived,  and  in  the  self-same  spirit  died*  Died  ? 
No  ;  I  am  not  dead ! — bodies  change  ;  souls  can  never 
die.  Why?  For  the  reason  that  God,  who,  like 
human  beings,  is  intelligent  and  immortal,  can  Himself 
be  never  blotted  out  of  being.  He  is  Mind,  Memory, 
Love,  and  Will,  not  one  of  which  can  ever  perish  ;  and 
these  being  the  attributes  of  man  likewise,  it  follows 
that,  so  long  as  He  exists,  we  must  also. 

In  the  year  1854,  being  ill  of  consumption,  the 
person,  an  account  of  whose  experience  is  given  in  these 
pages,   although    long    previously   somewhat    familiar 


16  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

• 

with,  began  to  take  an  especial  interest  in  the  great 
subject  of  an  hereafter,  as  revealed  by  what  purported 
to  be  the  spirits  of  departed  men  and  women  ;  and 
then,  for  the  first  time,  as  Death's  cold  presence 
sensibly  approached  me  afar  off,  and  the  sense  of 
going  began  to  quicken  in  my  being,  I  commenced  seri- 
ously to  speculate  concerning  immortality,  and  to  pay  . 
greater  heed  to  the  alleged  revelations  from  the  mys- 
terious Beyond. 

Bye-and-bye,  consumption  so  wasted  me,  that  I  grew 
tired  ;  and  finally,  a  mist  came  before  my  eyes,  and  shut 
out  the  fields,  the  forests,  and  the  faces  of  my  friends, — my 
friends — none  dearer  than  whom,  were  ever  clasped  to 
affection's  warm  heart.  *  *  *  *  And  so  I  slept, — but 
woke  again  from  out  of  that  strange,  deep  sleep,  called 
Death.  The  awakening  was  very  strange  ! — was*  such 
as  I  had  never  even  imagined  to  be  possible. 

"  Where  ami?"  was  asked  by  myself  of  that  very  self. 
Not  mine,  but  a  lower,  sweeter,  more  musical  voice,  soft 
and  dulcet  as  the  tinkle  of  a  love  bell,  answered  me 
from  out  a  veil  of  rosy  light,  that  hung  between  me, 
and,  whatever  was  beyond.  "  In  the  Divine  City  of 
freed  souls, — the  land  of  Immortal,  but  not  Eternal 
rest."  *  *  *  *  I  felt,  and  knew  that  I  was — dead  ! 

As  the  sense  of  these  words  struck  upon  my  soul 
where  this  voice  came  from,  seemed  very  strange  to  me, 
for  this  reason  amongst  others  :  I  had,  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent, familiarized  myself  with  Physics,  and  knew  that 
sounds  were  supposed  to  be  the  result  of  certain  aerial 
vibrations.  Now,  supposing  this  theory  to  be  correct, 
it  struck  me,  that  I,  a  disembodied  soul,  ought  not  to  be 
competent  to  discern  sounds,  for  there  was  neither  tym- 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE   DEAD.  17 

panuin  to  receive,  auditory  nerves  to  conduct,  nor  external 
ear,  to  collect  these  waves  of  sound. 

It  seemed  to  me,  that  one  of  the  two  prevalent  theo- 
ries must  be  false  ;  either  sound  is  not  material,  or  that 
the  Spirit  of  a  human  being  is; — for  I  had  not  the  shadow 
of  a  doubt,  but  that  I  was  really,  and  forever,  an  in- 
habitant of  the  soul-world.  If  sounds  are  material,  how 
was  it  possible  for  me  to  hear  them,  being  a  Spirit  ?  If 
a  Spirit  is  but  a  refined  form  of  matter,  then  the  notion 
of  its  eternal  durability,  is  a  false  one,  and  there  must 
come  a  period  when  it  too,  like  the  body,  must  dissolve 
away.  These  things  troubled  me.  I  had  passed  to 
death,  not  as  a  sluggard,  and  careless  of  what  might 
await  me,  but  with  every  faculty  keenly  awake.  Nor 
do  I  suppose  five  minutes  elapsed  after  I  emerged  from 
my  body,  ere  I  was  perfectly  alive  to  all  that  surround- 
ed me. 

I  distinctly  saw  certain  familiar  things,  and  recognized 
them;  but  there  was  not  any  difficulty  in  comprehending 
the  rationale  of  this;  for  I  perceived  that  solar  light 
was  not  the  only  source  of  illumination  the  earth  pos- 
sessed. Indeed,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  darkness. 
The  life  of  all  things  is  light,  and  although  sun,  moon, 
and  stars  should  hide  behind  an  impenetrable  veil,  yet 
the  things  of  earth  would  still  be  visible  to  the  sight  of 
the  soul. 

There  are  two  other  sources  of  light;  first, 
the  electrical  emanations  from  every  material  object 
illumine  them,  and  whatever  maybe  near;  and  second, 
the  air  itself,  which  fleshly  lungs  inhale,  is  but  the  outer 
garb  of  a  finer  and  magnetic  sea,  which  not  only  en- 
circles the  earth,  but  stretches  away  in  all  directions  to 


18  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

the  outer  limits  of  creation ;  and  in  this,  all  things  are 
radiant,  all  things  visible. 

These  observations  were  quickly  made ;  and  in  an 
instant  thereafter,  I  turned  toward  the  fleecy  veil  pre- 
viously observed,  and  saw  the  figure  of  an  old,  gray- 
haired  man  emerge  therefrom,  leading  by  the  hand,  a 
sweet  and  lovely  girl  apparently  about  ten  years  old. 
The  gleesome  smile  on  that  angel's  face,  the  look  of 
bland  benevolence  on  the  features  of  the  man,  surpassed 
aught  of  the  kind  that  I  had  ever  seen  before.  Both  of 
them  approached,  and  greeted  me.  I  could  not  return 
the  salutation,  because  the  strangeness  and  utter  novelty, 
not  only  of  my  new  situation,  but  of  my  sensations, 
were  such  that  it  was  impossible  to  act  as  in  other  mo- 
ments, I  feel  certain  I  should  have  been  prompted  to. 
The  man  spoke,  and  called  me  "  daughter."  The  tones 
were  precisely  those  I  had  formerly  heard ;  and  two 
things  surprised  me :  First,  tKeir  serene  and  liquid 
melody, — so  very  different  from  those  one  would  na- 
turally expect  to  hear  from  one  of  his  appearance;  and 
second,  that  very  appearance  itself:  for  both  the  man 
and  child  were  clothed  after  the  manner  and  fashion  of 
the  earth. 

This  was  a  matter  of  astonishment,  for  I  had  supposed 
that  the  clothing  of  the  Spirit  was  vastly  different 
from  that  of  the  body.  Evidently,  the  old  man  read 
my  mind,  and  understood  the  cause  of  my  perplexity. 
Drawing  near  to  where  I  stood,  he  touched  my  forehead 
with  his  finger,  and  said,  "  Be  clear,  my  child,  be  clear." 

As  if  that  touch  were  magic,  there  came  an  instan- 
taneous change  over  me  ;  it  was  as  if  I  thought  to  the 
point  I  wished,  and  that  with  perfect  clarity.     Things, 


DEALINGS  WITH   THE   DEAD.  19 

which  a  moment  before  were  wrapped  in  the  folds  of 
mystery,  now  became  transparent  as  the  plainest  I  could 
wish. 

As  a  matter  of  course,  I  took  notice  of  the  friends  I 
had  just  left  behind  me1 — yes,  behind  me,  in  what  was 
now  in  very  truth  a  far-off  world: — even  though  not  ten 
yards  intervened  between  myself  and  the  dear  ones, 
who  now  mourned  me;  yet  in  presence  of  the  fact  that 
I  have  very  momentous  revelations  to  make, — revelations 
that  will  startle  the  world, — I  cannot  now  stop  to  relate 
my  emotions,  my  sorrows  or  my  joys,  for  I  felt  that  at 
last  I  was  in  the  realm  of  pure  knowledge  ;  and  now 
feel  that  this  precious  opportunity  must  be  improved,  to 
other  ends  than  a  mere  recital  of  my  emotions  and 
sympathies  however  acute  and  tender  they  may  have 
been. 

The  communication  between  the  soul-world  and  earth 
is  far  more  difficult  and  rare  than  I  had  believed,  or 
than  thousands  believe  to-day.  Much,  I  learned,  that 
passes  among  men  for  spiritual  manifestation,  really  has 
no  such  origin,  while  many  things,  attributed  to  an 
origin  purely  mundane,  are  really  the  work  of  intelligent 
beings,  beyond  the  misty  veil. 

Long  previous  to  my  final  illness,  I  had  held  many 
interesting  conversations  with  my  friends,  concerning 
the  higher  life  and  worlds,  and  particularly  with  the 
one  by  whose  aid  I  am  now  enabled  to  make  these  dis- 
closures ;  and  I  had  made  a  solemn  compact,  to  the 
effect,  that  if  it  were  possible  to  return  subsequent  to 
death,  I  would  do  so,  and,  reveal  such  mysteries  as  I 
might  be  enabled  or  permitted  to.  This  resolution  grew 
out  of  the  fact,  that  not  one  of  the  theories,  regarding 


20  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

the  'post  mortem  existence  of  human  kind,  which  I  had 
ever  heard  or  read,  gave  me  the  satisfaction  that  my 
soul  desired.  I  suspected  that  many  of  the  current  no- 
tions regarding  the  lands  beyond  the  curtain,  were,  to 
say  the  least,  largely  tinctured  with  the  mind  of  the 
individuals  through  whose  lips  the  oracular  utterances 
came  ;  consequently  I  became,  to  a  degree,  suspicious 
of  all  modern  eolism  and  eolists,  because  I  feared  their 
inspirations  had  not  so  high  and  deep  a  source  as  they 
claimed,  and  is  claimed  for  them. 

My  mind,  in  this  respect,  is  still  unchanged.  The 
first  lesson  that  flashed  in  upon  me,  after  the  mysterious 
clarification  of  soul  to  which  allusion  has  been  made 
was  this  :  People  on  earth  spend  a  great  deal  of  time 
in  acquiring  lessons  which  have  to  be  unlearned,  upon 
their  entrance  on  the  upper  life  ; — must  be  unlearned, 
ere  they  can  advance  far  in  the  acquisition  of  the  rare 
treasures  of  knowledge,  to  be  found  only  by  the  true 
seeker,  even  in  that  mighty  realm  which  constitutes  the 
soul-world. 

God  has  placed  all  true  human  joys,  there,  as  well  as 
on  the  earth,  upon  high  shelves,  whence  they  cannot  be 
taken  by  proxy  ; — they  must  be  reached  for  by  those 
who  would  have  them  \  and  the  more  precious  the  joy, 
the  higher  the  shelf; — the  more  valuable  the  volume,  the 
greater  effort  is  required  to  obtain  the  perusal  thereof. 
This  is  the  first  great  law. 

Now,  in  collecting  what  purported  to  be  scraps  of 
knowledge,  from  the  realm  of  spiritual  existence,  I 
found  on  my  entry  there,  that  I  had  laid  up  quite  a 
store  of  falsities  in  the  magazines  of  my  soul: — laid  up 
great  heaps  of  what  I  supposed  were  the  gold  and  dia- 


DEALINGS  WIIH  THE  DEAD.  21 

nionds  of  supernal  truth;  but  which,  no  sooner  had  I 
entered  the  portals  of  the  vast  temple  of  Eternity,  than 
I  found  to  be  the  most  useless  rubbish;  and  nearly  all 
my  treasures  proved  to  be  the  merest  paste  and  tinsel. 
The  first  thing,  therefore,  which  the  soul  desirous  of 
attaining  real  proficiency  in  knowledge,  has  to  do,  is  to 
unlearn  its  follies  as  quick  as  possible. 

This  process  is  called  by  a  term  signifying  vastation, 
or  throwing  off.  Some  do  this  at  once  and  with  ease  ; 
others  linger  a  long  time  in  error,  and  only  attain  the 
great  end  through  great  trial  and  perseverance,  just  as 
persons  on  earth.  My  desire  was  ever  to,  and  for  the 
truth  ;  hence  the  process,  to  me  was  one  of  comparative 
ease.  The  ideas  which  I  had  imbibed,  and  given  my 
heart  to,  concerning  matters  spiritual,  were  the  same 
that  are  still  current  amongst  those  who  accept  that 
which  is  known  as  modern  Spiritualism.  Succinctly 
stated,  they  were  these  :  first,  The  spirit  of  a  human 
being  is  the  product  of  the  physical  body  ;  the  human 
being  is  a  triplicate,  composed  of  soul,  or  the  thinking 
principle,  the  body,  and  an  intermediate  link,  called 
spirit ;  possessing  all  the  organs  of,  and  shaped  like 
the  body,  and  which  serves  to  connect  this  last  with  the 
soul,  while  on  earth,  and  being  its  eternal  casket  after 
death.  The  soul,  spirit  and  body  are  called  into  being 
at  one  time,  and  that  upon  the  earth. 

The  spiritual  body,  like  the  physical,  is  subject  both 
to  waste  and  want,  for  which  ample  and  due  provision 
has  by  God  been  made.  It  has  thirst,  hunger,  and 
amatory  love,  all  of  which  have  their  appropriate  grati- 
fications in  the  Spirit-world.  This  spiritual  world  itself 
is  on  the  surface  of  a  zone  surrounding  the  earth,  at  a 


22  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

distance  of  one  hundred  miles,  more  or  less  ;  above  this 
zone,  is  another  and  another,  to  the  number  of  twelve  ; 
each  zone  is  a  *  Sphere/  and  its  inhabitants  are  divide  d 
off  into  classes,  degrees,  societies  and  circles.  All  the 
zones  are  diversified  with  real  and  absolute  rivers,  trees, 
mountains,  lakes,  landscapes,  cities,  and  so  on,  just  as  is 
the  material  globe ;  and  all  these  things  are  fixtures. 
Such,  in  brief,  are  the  general  ideas  on  the  subject  enter- 
tained t>y  the  people  j  and  such  as  I  had  believed  and 
conceived  to  be  true.  But  when  I  came  to  pass  through 
the  change,  and  to  realize  the  new  condition,  I  ascer- 
tained that  so  far  from  being  founded  in  reality,  they 
were  simply — nonsense ! 

According  to  the  foregoing,  which  is  confessedly  the 
most  popular  conception  of  the  realms  beyond,  and  of 
its  inhabitants,  that  world  is  scarcely  better  than  the  one 
that  mortals  occupy.  These  notions  totally  ignore 
Spirit ;  for,  according  to  them,  Spirit  is  nothing  more 
than  matter  in  ah  exceedingly  refined,  or  rather,  subli- 
mated, condition  ;  whereas  Spirit  is  no  such  thing.  True, 
it  animates  material  things,  but  itself  is  not  material. 
It  is  above,  beyond,  and  discreted  from  it.  Like  the 
asymptotes  of  an  arc,  it  forever  approaches,  but  never 
actually  contacts  matter.  The  same  general  theory  ac- 
cords mankind  an  origin  here  in  space  and  time  merely, 
and  at  best  predicates  but  sempiternity,  or  a  future  end- 
less duration  for  him;  whereas,  if  soul  begins  to-be  at  all 
on  the  plane  of  earth  and  matter,  it  must  have  but  a  very 
ill-grounded  assurance  of  an  endless  race,  No,  this  is 
not  correct ;  for  Soul,  like  God,  is  from  forever  in  the 
past,  to  forever  in  the  distance  ;  and  so  far  from  origin- 
ating on  the  earth,  it  has  for  myriads  of  ssons  sped 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  23 

its  career  through  God's  infinite  Silence  Halls,  and  now 
merges,  whether  for  the  first  time  or  not,  is  needless  to 
inquire  at  this  point,  into  the  vocal  Harmonead.  In  the 
life  of  earth,  the  soul  awakes  from  its  pre-state  into  one 
as  different  as  can  well  be  thought  of ;  and  at  death,  it 
experiences  another  waking,  quite  as  startling,  but  in- 
finitely more  grand. 

The  first  lesson,  then,  that  I  learned  was,  that  with  a 
great  deal  of-  philosophy,  I  had  but  very  little  knowl- 
edge ;  and  instead  of  finding  the  Soul-world  analagous 
to  the  earth-world,  in  fact  I  found  them  vastly  different, 
and  possessing  no  one  thing  in  common,  so  far  as  the 
surroundings  of  the  spiritual   entrant  was  concerned. 

All  that  has  been  said  required  several  minutes  to  de- 
scribe, but  not  ten  seconds  to  experience. 

Hooked  toward  the  old  man  and  the  child,marvelling,  as 
before  observed,  that  they  wore  clothing  after  the  man 
ner  of  the  earth-kin,  and  bore  the  appearance  of  ex- 
treme youth  and  extreme  age.  "  Is  it  possible  that 
years  affect  souls  ?  Do  we  grow  old,  as  well  as  need 
garments  in  the  other  world  ?w  These  queries  suggest- 
ed themselves,  and  while  present  in  my  mind,  the  old 
man  came  to  my  right  side,  and  took  me  by  my  left  hand, 
while  the  little  girl,  Nellie, — I  subsequently  learned  she 
had  been  called  by  the  dear  ones  left  behind  her,  took 
my  right  hand  ;  and  both  said,  "  Come,  Cynthia,  they 
await  yoiv:  let  us  go  to  meet  them." 

I  now  made  three  important  discoveries':  First,  that 
I  was  yet  in  the  room,  where  my  breath  had  been  resign- 
ed :  that  I  was  clothed  in  precisely  such  a  dress  as  I 
had  usually  worn ;  and  third,  that  so  far  as  I  could 
judge,  I  actually  trod  upon,  and  walked  over  a  stratum 


24  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

of  air,  just  such  air  as  I  had  been  used  to  breathe,  albeit 
that  was  not  possible  any  longer,  for  the  reason  that 
it  was  all  too  heavy  for  the  respiratory  apparatus  of 
that  which  now  constituted  my  body,  or  at  least  the 
vehicle  of  myself — the  thinking,  acting,  living  me.  My 
method  of  locomotion  differed  essentially  from  that  of 
my  two  companions,  who  did  not  walk,  but  seemed  to 
glide  along  at  will  through  that  same  air,  which  was 
to  me  quite  palpable,  for  I  distinctly  noticed  that  its 
touch  was  of  a  velvety  character,  and  quite  elastic.  My 
feet  moved  ;  theirs  did  not.  And  so  we  passed  out  of 
the  house  through  the  open  door, — for  a  person  had 
just  entered. 

From  one  or  two  incidental  circumstances  that  took 
place,  not  essential  to  this  narrative,  and  therefore  with- 
held, I  became  convinced  that  unless  some  incarnate 
man  or  woman  had  raised  the  latch  of  that  door,  it 
must,  so  far  as  I  was  concerned,  have  remained  shut  to 
all  eternity,  barring  wind,  decay,  accident,  or  an  earth- 
quake ;  for  in  my  then  state  of  enlightenment  on  the 
subject,  I  saw  no  possible  means  whereby  to  effect  our 
liberation.  It  struck  me  that  unless  some  such  agency 
as  has  been  named,  came  to  our  assistance,  we  must 
either  make  our  egress  by  means  of  the  chimney,  or 
stay  pent  up  there  until  the  elements  dissolved  a  portion 
of  the  edifice  ;  or,  supposing  it  to  be  proof  against  de- 
cay, a  dreadful  alternative,  so  it  seemed,  there  we  must 
remain  for  evermore.  Subsequently  I  learned  that  even 
were  such  a  thing  possible,  and  I  never  got  outside  of  that 
dwelling,  yet  it  would  be  far  less  terrible  than  fear  might 
lead  one  to  imagine  or  suspect ;  for  still  there  would  re- 
main, not  only  an  infinity  of  duration,  but  also  a  universe 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  25 

to  move  and  be  in,  quite  as  infinite  in  both  extent  and 
variety  beside;  for  the  Soul,I  soondiscovered,was  a  ^asti- 
tude  in  and  of  itself;  and  should  it  happen  that  not  one 
of  the  moments  of  its  mighty  year  be  spent  in  the  society 
of  others  like  unto  itself,  yet  there  would  be  but  little  occa- 
sion for  ennui;  not  one  lonely  minute  need  be  spent,  for  all 
its  days — if  for  illustration's  sake,  I  may  predicate  time  of 
that  whereof  emotions  and  states  are  the  minutes  and 
the  hours — might  be  profitably  employed  in  visiting  its 
own  treasure  houses  and  in  counting  the  rare  jewels  there 
stored  away  ;  besides  which,  it  could  perform  many  a 
pleasant  voyage,  visiting  mighty  continents,  rare  islands, 
wondrous  cities,  and  marvellous,  countries  of  its  own 
tremendous  being  ; — aye !  it  could  amuse  itself  for  ages 
in  merely  glancing  at  the  hills,  valleys,  caverns — strange 
deep  caverns  they  are  too — the  oceans,  forests,  fields 
fens,  brakes,  and  marshes  of  its  mighty  self;  nor  would 
its  resources  be  exhausted  at  the  thither  end  of  the 
rolling  wave  of  Time  ;  because  time  is  not  to  the  soul :  its 
duration  and  successions  are  of  thought,  not  seconds — ■ 
so  wonderful,  so  vast,  so  illimitable,  and,  taken  as  a 
unit,  so  incomprehensible,  save  by  the  Over-soul  himself, 
is  the  human  being.  Soul !  thou  august  thing  !  Felt 
thou  mayest  be  ;  understood  by  none,  save  God  ;  and, 
albeit  we  may  explore  a  little  of  thy  forelands,  yet  only 
He  can  penetrate  thy  depths  ;  only  He  can  trace  the 
streams  that  water  thee  to  their  source,  and  that  source 
can  be  no  other  than  His  divine  heart,  who,  forever  un- 
seen, is  never  unfelt ;  an  invisible  worker  afar  off,  yet 
near  at  hand  ;  one  who  spreadeth  the  banquet,  and  pre- 
pareth  the  feasters,  who  worketh  ever  in  secret,  yet 
who  doeth  all  things  well !  Soul !  Mighty  potentate ! 
2 

i 


26  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

Victim  at  once,  and  victor  of  circumstance  and  time  ! 
Thou  enigma,  which  millions  think  they  have  solved, 
even  while  thou  laughest  at  them  ;  who  imagining  they 
have  untied  the  knot,  have  not  even  found  the  clue  ! 
Strange  riddle  !  Thing  of  which  men  think  they  are 
well  informed,  because  they  have  learned  a  few  of  thy 
names,  and  can  call  thee  Psyche,  Soul,  Spirit,  Pneuma 
and  Breath  ;  word-names,  which  generally  convey  about 
as  much  of  thee  to  the  common  understanding,  as  the 
name-words  Algebra,  Geometry,  Music  and  Number,  do 
to  the  barbarians  who  hear  them  pronounced,  of  the 
vast  realities  that  underlie  the  sounds  or  the  signs. 
Soul !  Existence,  whereof  eolists  and  pedants  learnedly 
prate  and  bluster  in  long  phrase  and  loud  tone,  as  if 
thou  didst  not  command  silence  of  him  who  would 
approach  thee,  and  seek  to  know  the  awful  mysteries 
slumbering  beneath  thy  titles.  Soul !  Whereof  every- 
body talks  so  much,  but  of  which  even  the  wisest  of 
either  earth  or  heaven  know  so  very  little. 
f:  "Well,  in  my  ignorance,  I  felt  that  unless  some  one, 
something  material,  had  opened  that  door,  we  must  stay 
imprisoned  there  in  that  house  upon  the  hill,  forever  and 
for  evermore. 

How  little,  how  very  little,  I  then  knew  or  suspected 
concerning  the  mighty  powers  latent,  and  never  yet  fully 
unfolded  in  auy  human  being — no  matter  whom,  no 
matter  where  located,  how  high  in  heaven,  on  earth,  or 
deep  down  in  the  bottomless  hell,  or  the  blackest 
barathrum  of  the  infinitudes  of  Possibility.  No  one 
save  God  can  fathom  the  profounds  of  Soul.  Why? 
Because,  like  Him,  it  is  absolutely  Infinite  :  Him,  in 
Conscious  Power — it,  in  Capability !    Yery  imperfect 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  27 

still,  and  necessarily  so,  yet  my  notions  of  the  Soul's 
powers  were  then  exceedingly  vague,  crude,  and  unde- 
fined. In  other  and  succeeding  states  to  which  I  subse- 
quently attained,  much  of  this  ignorance  was  dispelled  by 
new  light  which  constantly  broke  in  upon  my  being. 

And  we  passed  beyond  the  portal  of  the  house,  my- 
self crossing  at  the  same  instant  its  threshold,  and  that 
of  Time  ;  nor  did  I  once  cast  a  glance  toward  the  frail 
and  decaying  shell  from  which  a  joyous  thrill  of  super- 
consciousness  told  me  that  I  had  forever  escaped  ;  in- 
deed I  had  no  disposition  to  do  so,  for  the  reason  that 
new  and  strange  emotions  and  sensations  crowded  so 
fast  upon  me,  that  my  whole  attention  was  absorbed 
thereby  ;  for  they  swept  like  the  billows  of  a  wind 
troubled  lake,  across  the  entire  sea  of  my  new-born 
being.  One  thought,  arid  one  alone,  connected  with 
earth,  assumed  importance,  and  that  was  associated 
with  the  physical  phenomenon  of  dissolution,  and  it 
shaped  itself  in  a  hundred  ways  with  the  rapidity  of 
lightning — no,  not  lightning,  but  quicker,  for  that  is 
very  slow  compared  to  the  flashings  and  the  rushings 
forth  of  thought,  even  in  the  earth-made  brain  ;  how 
much  more  rapid,  then,  from  a  source  around  which 
are  no  cerebral  impediments  to  obstruct.  "  Death — this 
it  is  to  be  dead  !"  thought  I.  How  blind,  how  deaf  we 
are,  not  to  see,  and  know,  and  hear,  that  all  things 
tell  of  life,  life,  life — being,  real  and  true ;  while 
nothing,  nothing  in  the  great  domain  of  our  God, 
speaks  one  word  of  absolute  death,  of  a  blotting  out  of 
Soul — Soul,  which,  while  even  cramped  in  coares  bodies, 
sometimes  mounts  the  Capitals  of  existence,  and  with 
far-penetrating  vision  pierces  the  profoundest  depths  of 


28  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

space,  gazes  eagle-like  upon  the  very  sun  of  Glory, 
laughs  death  to  scorn,  and  surveys  the  fields  of  two 
eternities — one  behind,  and  one  before  it.  This  thing 
can  never  die,  nor  taste  a  single  drop  of  bitter  death ! 
#  *  ■*  jjow  strange,  how  wonderfully  strange  I  feel ; 
yet  these  sensations  are  of  excellent  health,  of  exhilarant 
youth,  of  concentration  and  power  ;  nor  hath  decrep- 
itude or  decay  aught  therein. 

"  I  am  not  faint,  but  strong  ;  not  sad,  but  joyous." 
These  were  my  observations  on  realizing  the  great 
change.  Many  a  time  had  I  read  and  heard  of  the 
capacity  human  beings  have  of  experiencing  joys  purely 
nervous.  Nearly  all  present  human  pleasures  are  based 
upon  the  fineness  and  susceptibility  of  the  nerves  to  re- 
ceive and  impart  magnetic  impressions.  My  nerves 
had  aforetime  been  made  to  tingle  with  strange,  deep 
bliss  when  in  the  presence  of  those  I  loved,  after  their 
return  from  long  absence  ;  I  had  tasted  the  exquisite 
nectar  from  the  lips  of  an  innocent  prattling  babe,  and 
had  known  the  tumultuous  thrill  of  friendship's  joyous 
meetings  ;  and  yet  all  these  were  as  blasts  of  frozen 
air  to  what  now  kept  running,  leaping,  flying,  dancing 
through  me.  It  was  the  supremely  delicious  sense  of 
being  dead — the  voluptuous  joy  consequent  upon  dying. 

At  first  it  seemed  to  me  that  keener  joy,  or  deeper 
bliss  would  be  impossible  for  man  or  woman  to  experi- 
ence than  those  that  now  were  mine.  After  a  while  I 
learned  better. 

Mankind  expand  from  the  action  of  two  principles — 
Intellect  and  Intuition  •  the  first  being  the  basis  of  pro- 
gression, the  latter  of  development.  Some,  both  in  and 
out  of  the  body,  are  built  up  by  one,  some  by  the  other  ; 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  29 

and  many  rise  from  the  combined  action  of  both.  Many 
of  the  dead  pursue  the  triumphs  of  intellect  and  investi- 
gation, just  as  when  on  earth.  These  are  the  progres- 
sionists— vast  in  number,  great  in  deed,. but  constituting 
an  inferior  order,  as  they  must  ever  be  secondary  to 
that  vaster  host  and  higher  order  who  climb  the  ladder 
of  intuition.  Without  egotism,  then,  but  in  all  humility, 
I  say  that  great  joy  was  mine  on  finding  myself  num- 
bered with  the  larger  army.  It  was  in  allusion  to  the 
fact  that  all  the  learning  a  man  may  acquire  on  earth, 
really  stands  him  but  little  on  the  other  side,  that  one 
of  old  declared  that  in  that  upper  kingdom  the  first 
should  be  last,  and  the  last  be  first ;  for  it  often  happens 
that  one  almost  ignorant  in  a  worldly  sense,  may  have 
the  highest  and  the  grandest  intuitions  of  truth,  divested 
of  the  thick  coats  wherewith  learning  often  clothes  it. 
People  in  whom  intellect  predominates  over  intuition, 
naturally  gravitate  to  their  true  position  in  the  realms 
beyond.  Their  destiny  is  to  be  for  a  long  time  (and  of 
such  "time"  can  justly  be  predicated)  pilgrims  in  the 
Spirit-world  or  middle  state,  whereas  all  in  whom 
intuition  is  exalted,  can  not  only  be  occasional  residents, 
for  redemptive  purposes,  of  the  outer  Spirit- world,  but 
are  intromitted  to  the  deeper  and  sublime  realities  of 
the  Soul-world — a  world  as  much  different  from  the 
merely  Spiritual  kingdom  as  is  the  processes  of  a  musi- 
cian's soul,  when  at  high  tide,  superior  to  the  mental 
operations  of  a  midnight  burglar.  A  veil  divides  those 
worlds  as  completely  as  does  a  similar  one  separate 
earth  from  Spirit-land.  Two  beings  there  may  meet, 
one  a  resident  of  the  Soul-realm,  the  other  a  denizen  of 
Spirit-land  ;  the  former  may  be  in  close  propinquity  with 


30  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

the  latter,  and  yet  the  spheres  of  their  several  existences 
be  as  far  apart  as  is  North  from  South.  The  one  sees 
and  knows  only  from  appearances,  the  other  from  posi- 
tive rapport.  This  fact  at  once  explains  many  of  the 
differences  in  the  accounts  which  mortals  receive,  and  un- 
mistakably so,  from  the  lands  beyond  the  swelling  flood; 
the  kingdoms  o'er  the  sea.  My  knowledge  flowed  in 
upon  me  through  the  channels  of  intuition,  and  through 
them  I  learned  that  the  hyper-sensational  joys  to  which 
allusion  has  been  made,  are  ever  experienced  in  exact 
ratio  to  the  purity  of  the  past  record  of  the  life.  Those 
which  I  felt  were  only  of  the  fourth  degree,  there  being 
three  beyond,  though  how  mine  should  have  been  so 
intensified  and  deepened,  was,  and,  for  reasons  plainly 
to  be  seen,  must  ever  remain,  a  mystery.  The  amount, 
degree,  and  even  kind,  of  joy  felt  by  any  soul  upon  its 
passage  over  the  Myst,  depends  upon  three  things,  and 
these  are  :  First,  the  nature  of  the  motives  which,  pre- 
vious to  the  mortuary  divorce,  prompted  to  all  or  any 
action,  either  toward  the  self,  the  neighbor,  or  society  ; 
Second,  the  amount  of  good  a  person  has  done  on  earth  ; 
and  Third,  the  amount  of  use,  in  the  higher  sense,  they 
may  have  subserved  previous  to  physical  dissolution. 

Nellie  and  I,  and  the  old  gray-haired  man  who  ac- 
companied her,  soon  reached  the  road  in  front  of  the 
house  wherein  I  had  lived,  and  wherein  I  was  born  into  a 
newer  phase  of  life.  While  looking  at  my  companions 
to  find  out  whither  they  were  going,  the  child,  by  the 
exercise  of  a  power  not  then  fully  understood  by  myself, 
rose  into  the  air  a  foot  or  more,  laid  her  hand  gently  on 
my  forehead,  patted  it  tenderly,  and  said  :  "  Come ! 
VYcixe  going  to  show  you  your  home,  and  then  mine, 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  31 

and  then  Ms  !"  She  said  this  with  a  smile,  so  pure,  so 
radiant,  that  I  instantly  divined  that  there  was  truth  in 
the  theory  that  every  one  has  a  conjugal  mate  in  the 
universe  somewhere,  albeit  I  shrank  from,  and  dreaded 
to  meet  mine,  if,  indeed,  I  had  one,  for  I  had  seen  some- 
what of  that  which  passes  for  love  among  men  ;  and, 
while  hailing  and  delighting  in  amicive,  I  felt  a  shud- 
dering disgust  at  anything  that  assumed  the  form  of 
amatory  love.  Love  was  admired,  but  its  passional 
phases  feared  and  despised.  My  tutelage  was  just 
begun. 

The  touch  of  the  child's  hand  was  as  plain,  palpable 
and  physical  as  any  touch  ever  felt  before, — quite  as 
much  so  as  was  that  of  the  dear  sister  who  smoothed 
my  dying  brow.  'After  all,  then,  spirits  are  material. 
I  feel  their  fingers,  see  their  forms,  hear  their  words, 
and  I  am  in  all  respects  as  nervously  sensitive  as  ever 
in  the  by-gone  years  of  sickness  !  Oh,  this  mystery  of 
the  double  existence,  which,  after  all,  seems  to  be  but 
two  phases  of  a  single  state ;  when,  when  shall  it  be 
solved?'  This  thought  passed  through  my  mind,  nor 
can  there  be  the  least  doubt  but  they  both  read  it  quite 
as  well  as  myself,  for  the  old  ma«\  smiled  gently  and 
benignly,  the  girl  with  half-concealed  merriment  and 
glee. 

I  now  passed  off  into  a  strange  and  peculiar  state, 
but  whether  what  followed  resulted  from  the  touch  or 
not,  it  is  impossible  to  say.  At  first  I  was  seized  with 
an  intense  desire  to  know  more  of  what  must  be  called 
my  physique,  and  a  rapid  inspection  revealed  the  fact 
that  I  possessed,  ail  and  singular,  the  organs  in  the  new 
condition,  that  had  been  in  the  old.     There  were  my 


32  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

hands — real,  actual  hands,  evidently, — but  they  were 
very  thin,  pale,  emaciated,  wrinkled,  and  of  a  decidedly 
blue,  consumptive  caste, — precisely  as  they  had  appeared 
every  day  for  the  past  long  months  of  pain  and  misery. 
My  hair  was  long,  and  in  all  other  respects  as  before  ; 
my  feet  felt  tender  ;  nor  was  there  any  difference  be- 
tween my  then,  and  prior  state,  except  that  a  nameless, 
thrilling  joy  pervaded  me,  and  which  left  absolutely 
nothing  to  be  wished  for  in  that  respect ;  for  as  the 
mouth  of  every  nerve  drew  in  the  magnetic  essence  in 
which  I  floated,  it  seemed  as  if  living  streams  of  sense- 
joy  rushed  through  every  channel  and  avenue  of  being  ; 
and  it  struck  me  that  if  there  were  no  other  reward 
for  having  lived  and  suffered,  yet  that  the  sensations 
consequent  upon  physical  death  would  fully  compensate 
a  life  of  agony.* 

Soon  a  sense  of  vacuity  stole  over  me,  and  brought 
the  realization,  that  having  passed  through  two  worlds, 
I  was  rapidly  approaching  one  still  more  wonderful 
and  strange. 

Many  a  time  had  I  been  mesmerized  by  friends,  in  my 
far  distant-dwelling,  by  my  well-beloved  brother  J.  in  par- 
ticular, who  all  sought  by  that  means  to  alleviate  my 
sufferings;  and  not  seldom  had  I  passed  into  what  is 
popularly  termed  the  Superior  State  ;f  and  the  feeling 

*  All  the  dead  people  are  not  thus  favored.  Up  to  the  present! 
was  an  inhabitant  merely  of  the  Spiritual  world,  but  had  not  yet 
entered  upon  the  vast  domains  of  the  realm  of  Soul.  There  are  two 
worlds  into  which  it  is  possible  for  man  to  step  into  from  the  portals 
of  the  grave,  as  all  will  be  convinced  who  either  study  the  subject  or 
give  this  introductory  work  a  careful  perusal. 

f  My  researches  have  proved  to  me,  that  in  nine  cases  in  every 
ten,  taking  an  entire  average,  the  sleeping  subject  never  once  actually 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  33 

induced  by  Nellie's  touch  was  akin  to  that,  but  was  far 
more  profound.  First  there  came  a  sort  of  mental  re- 
trocession, consequent  upon  my  previous  intellectual 
activity.  The  soul-principle  seemed  to  bound  back 
from  its  investigations  of  the  previous  moment,  to  a 
pinnacle  within  itself,  from  whence  it  as  rapidly  sunk 
down  into  one  of  the  profoundest  labyrinths  of  its  own 
vast  caverns. 

Down,  down,  still  lower  and  deeper  into  the  awful 
abyss  of  itself  it  sank,  until  at  last  it  stood  solitary  and 
alone  in  one  of  its  own  secret  halls.  The  outer  realm, 
with  all  its  pains  and  joys,  cares,  sorrows  and  ambitions, 
hopes,  likes,  antipathies  and  aspirations;  all  its  shadows 
and  fitful  gleams  of  light,  were  left  behind,  and  naught 
of  the  great  wide  world  remained;  for  its  lakes  and 
green  trees,  its  gardens  and  its  tiny  brooks,  its  beetling 
cliffs  and  radiant  sky  grew  distant,  very  distant,  until 
at  length  a  cold  and  chilling  horror  crept  over  me,  and 
suggested  that  perhaps,  after  all,  the  fearful  doctrine 


eaters  the  domain  of  Spirit  at  all,  during  the  trance  ;  but  instead 
thereof,  roams  and  revels  in  the  Fancy  Realm  of  his  own,  or  some  one 
else's  soul.  A  suggestion, — either  spontaneous  or  accepted — serves  as 
the  hither  end  of  a  clue,  the  line  reaching  just  where  the  partially  freed 
mind  chooses  to  direct  it.  Frequent  repetitions  of  the  exercise  of  this 
organ  of  spectral  illusion,  lead  directly  to  bad  results,  for  the 
illusions  soon  impress  themselves  as  realities,-  and  the  grossest  and 
most  absurd  fanaticisms  result ;  as  witness  the  thousand  phases  of 
spiritual  belief.  In  addition  to  this,  the  habit  of  mesmerizing,  or  be- 
ing mesmerized,  is  a  ruinous  one  to  all  concerned,  producing  pestilence 
and  moral  death.  True,  where  both  parties  are  good  and  pure,  no 
'harm  may  at  first  ensue,  but  at  last  an  abnormal  susceptibility  results 
by  which  any  man  or  woman  may  he  led  into  "  the  jaws  of  death,  into 
the  mouth  of  hell."  I  speak  of  course  concerning  indiscriminate  mag- 
netizing. 

2* 


34  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

might  be  true,  which  declares,  that  some  human  beings 
are  Gocl-doomed  to  annihilation  ;  and  the  anguish  that 
this  conceit  brought  with  it,  was  almost  unbearable, 
even  by  a  free-born  soul.  But,  thank  God !  this  last 
folly  of  the  philosophers, — last  and  greatest  save  one — 
the  doctrine  that  "  whatever  is  is  right/'  in  every  and  all 
senses,  is  a  libel  on  Himself  and  His  goodness. 

Finally  it  seemed  as  if  my  being  had  been  concentered, 
or  focalized  to  a  single  point,  and  even  that  soon  faded 
out,  and  an  utter  blankness  enveloped  my  soul.  How  long 
this  continued  is  impossible  to  be  told,  but  the  next  ex- 
perience was  that  consequent  upon  a  series  of  sudden 
thrills  or  shocks,  like  unto  those  which  a  person  receives 
who  takes  hold  of  the  conducting  knobs  of  a  highly 
charged  galvanic  battery, — or  rather  when  touching 
the  cup  of  a  leyden  jar.  These  instantly  aroused  me. 
I  started  up  as  from  a  death-stupor.  But  what  a  change, 
if  not  in  myself,  at  least  in  my  surroundings  !  I  was  in 
the  center  of  a  new,  but  limited  world.  Around  me 
was  an  atmosphere  of  mellow  rosy  light,  different  from 
any  ever  known  to  me  before, — an  atmosphere,  radiant, 
sweet,  soft,  and  redolent  with  perfumes  of  an  order  and 
fineness  surpassingly  grateful.  I  was  in  the  Soul-world, 
— my  Soul-world  : — a  realm  whereof  God  alone  was 
Lord — and  I  His  tributary  Queen.  The  feelings  con- 
sequent on  this  induction  were  strange,  but  pleasant. 

The  thoughts  that  now  arose,  were  not,  as  formerly, 
mere  shadowy  forms,  inconsistent  and  impalpable,  nor 
was  the  scene  of  their  action  within  the  head;  truei 
they  were  born  there,  but  that  was  all.  They  were 
no  longer  subjective  merely,  fleeting  and  ephemeral, 
but  were  objective,  positive  and  real.     I  saw,  but  not 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  35 

alone  with  eyes,  for  the  simulacrse  of  the  objects  wit- 
nessed within  that  sphere,  even  the  faint  outlines  of  the 
most  far-off  memograph,  seemed  to  stream  in  upon  me 
through  a  thousand  new  doors,  and  I  appeared  to  ac- 
quire knowledge  by  two  opposite  methods  :  first  by  go- 
ing out  involuntarily  to  whatever  was  to  be  known; 
and  second,  by  absorbing  the  images  of  things, — -just 
as  the  eye  absorbs  a  landscape. 

A  person  beholding  me  at  that  moment,  would  have 
concluded,  and  rightly  too,  that  I  had  just  arisen  from 
off  a  sort  of  cloud-couch  near  the  center  of  the  sphere, 
toward  which  my  face  was  turned.  On  that  couch  I 
beheld  the  exact  image,  not  of  my  person,  but  of  the 
clothes,  the  resemblance  of  which  to  those  once  worn 
on  earth,  it  will  be  remembered,  had  so  greatly  sur- 
prised me  in  the  earlier  part  of  this  experience.  "While 
yet  I  gazed  upon  that  ghost  of  a  dress,  it  slowly  faded 
into  nothingness.  Desiring  to  know  the  rationale  of 
this  occurrence,  it  came  to  me  that  the  worlds  are  not 
only  full  of  objects,  but  must  necessarily  be  still  more 
full  of  the  images  thereof, — images  which  fix  themselves 
more  or  less  permanently,  on  whatever  plastic  material 
which  they  may  chance  to  come  in  contact  with.  Some- 
times the*  lightning  will  pass  over  a  body  or  object; 
and  in  passing  will  fix  and  bring  out  into  visibility  the 
images  of  things  already  there.  Nature  is  full  of 
mirrors.  This  is  the  memory  of  Matter — the  Photo- 
graphy of  the  substantial  universe.  Memory  is  but  the 
photography  of  soul.  Everything, that  strikes  the  eye, or 
the  senses  in  anyway,  leaves  an  exact  image  of  itself  upon 
the  cylinder  of  Retention,  which  cylinder  winds  and 
unwinds,  according  as  it  takes  on  or  gives  off  the  im- 


36  DEALINGS  WITH  TEE  DEAD. 

pression,  whatever  it  may  be.  Thus  the  image  of  a 
tone,  a  sound,  a  peculiar  trill,  as  well  as  of  material 
things,  can  be,  and  are  photographed  upon  the  soul. 
Nothing  is  lost, — not  even  the  myriad  images  floating 
off  from  all  things  about  us,  day  after  day.  The 
amazing  beauties  of  a  snow  storm,  a  sleet  shower,  an 
autumn  forest,  a  rich  garden,  the  countless  flowers  on 
which  man's  material  eye  never  rested,  are  all  safely 
cared  for  by  Nature's  Daguerrian  Artist,  and  they  float 
about  the  material  worlds  until  sometimes  the  frost  will 
pin  a  few  of  them  to  the  window-panes  in  winter,  or 
they  are  breathed  through  the  spiritual  atmosphere  into 
some  poetic  soul,  who  incarnates  them  in  canvass,  marble, 
or  deathless  verse.  This  revelation,  of  course,  proves 
that  there  is  a  higher  world  than  most  men  have  yet 
dreamed  of,  and  that  too,  right  around  them.  In  fact, 
all  things  and  events  are  but  a  simple  process  of  what 
may  be  called  Deific  Photography.  All  forms,  all 
things,  all  events,  are  but  God's  thoughts  fixed  for  a 
time.  These  mental  images  go  forth  in  regular  order, 
and  constitute  the  sublime  procession  of  the  ages,  and 
all  human  events  and  destinies  are  but  the  externaliza- 
tion  of  Deific  fore-had  thoughts.  Here  is  the  rationale 
of  vaticination  or  prophecy.  Certain  persons  are  so 
exalted,  that  moving  in  the  Spiritual  atmosphere,  which 
contains  the  pre-images  of  approaching  events,  they 
read  a  few  of  them,  and  lo  !  in  the  coming  years  the 
occurrences  are  enacted;  for  the  spiritual  phasmas 
have  taken  form, — the  reflected  image  of  the  Deific 
thought  has  at  last  passed  through  the  dark  material 
camera,  been  fixed  by  a  law  of  celestial  chemistry, 
brought  out  to  the  surface,  or  '  developed/  by  the  grand 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  37 

manipulators  of  Nature's  laboratory,  and  lo  !  anew 
the  world  and  age  rejoices,  though  individuals  and  com- 
munities may  mourn. 

There  is  truth,  therefore,  in  the  doctrine  of  fore-ordi- 
nation. But  this  truth  is  general  always,  and  not  par- 
ticular, for  while  the  current  and  area  of  events  are 
pre-established,  still  every  soul,  in  any  and  all  its  states, 
has  an  absolute  sphere  of  self-itivity  ; — the  law  of 
Distinctness  permits  it  to  take  the  utmost  advantage  of 
conditions  for  its  own  improvement.  For  instance, 
take  that  which  constitutes  a  peach  tree,  or  a  rose,  give 
it  and  its  successors  the  best  possible  chance  to  unfold 
its  latent  properties,  and  the  rose  or  peach  principle 
will  put  forth,  in  the  course  of  two  generations,  a  forest 
of  beauties,  an  ocean  of  perfume,  a  mine  of  loveliness, 
which,  judging  the  plants  by  what  appeared  originally, 
they  never  contained  ;  and  yet  nothing  is  more  certain 
than  that  every  plant,  even  the  prickly  pear,  the  brist- 
ling thorn,  and  unsightly  thistle,  contain  the  germs  of  a 
beauty  too  vast  to  be  comprehended  by  mortal  man. 
In  the  succeeding  pages  there  is  an  account  of  God 
and  Monads  which  will  add  much  to  the  needed  light 
on  this  subject.  I  cannot  express  them  now  for  lack  of 
suitable  conditions,  which  can  only  be  had  in  the  midst 
of  religious  calm,  holy  solitude,  and  beneath  a  more 
sunny  sky  than  bends  over  us  at  the  present  writing. 

As  the  appearance  of  my  dress  faded  away,  and  the 
truth  just  faintly  limned,  flashed  across  me,  I  began 
to  realize  somewhat  of  the  majesty  of  the  thing  called 
soul  ;  and  saw  that,  while  the  dress  was  a  mere  spectral 
garb,  so  also  were  those  of  the  little  girl  and  the  old 
man — they  were  illusory — mere  will-woven  garments, 


38  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

— nothing  but  appearances.     And  yet,  had  I  been  ques- 
tioned in  regard  to  the  matter,  while  in  my  previous 
state,  I  would  have   freely  sworn  that  all  I  saw  was 
real, — for  in  my  then  unenlightened  state,  they  were  so. 
This  suggests  the  subject  of  insanity.     A  man  may  be 
in  a  state  wherein  he  can  only  behold  appearances.     To 
him  they  are  real,  to  some  one  else  they  are  false,  while 
to  those  who  can  look   over  the  entire  ground,  both 
would  be  deemed  right  and  both  wrong.     Man  is  of 
birthright  a  creator,  and  the  law  of  Distinctness  forces 
his  creations  to  resemble  himself.     If  he  is  poor  and 
lean,  so  will  be  the  world  he  fashions  around  him  voli- 
tionally,  or  which  shall  be  his  natural  and  spontaneous 
out-creation.     The  highest  happiness  of  man  is  found 
in  the  act  of  creation,  whether  it  be  poem,  picture,  en- 
gine, system  of  thought,  or  anything  else.     Hence  the 
enfranchised  soul,  dwelling  in  its  real  world,  on  the 
thither  side  of  time,  has  the  power  of  assumption  to  a 
degree  commensurate  with  its  desire  for  wisdom,  its 
determining  motives,  the  good  it  has  done,  and  the 
ends  of  use  it  has  accomplished.     It   can,  therefore, 
assume  any  form  it  pleases, — but  for  the  purpose  of 
wrong-doing,  or  concealing  its  identity,  it  is  utterly 
powerless  in  this  respect ;  so  that  while  it  may  mas- 
querade as  much  as  it  chooses  to  for  its  amusement, 
that  of  others,  or  to  instruct ;  yet  A  must  be  forever 
known  as  A,  nor  can  A  ever  pass  for  B,  save  in  cases 
of  insanity,  wherein  A  has  a  firm  conviction  that  he  is 
really  B,  in  which  case,  and  for  redemptive  ends,  he  is 
sometimes  recognized  as  B,  till  his  cure  is  effected.     It 
is  in  accordance  with  this  law  of  distinctness  that  the 
righteous  dead,  who  do  really  sometimes  come  back  on 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.    ^      39 

visits  to  tlieir  former  homes,  always  appear  to  men  clad 
as  they  used  to  be  when  incarnated.  They  arc  com- 
pelled to  this  course  by  an  integral  law  of  soul,  so  long 
as  there  are  any  on  earth  capable  of  recognizing  them, 
or  so  long  as  a  good  descriptive  portrait  may  exist.  If 
the  likelihood  of  identification  does  not  exist,  then  the 
spirits  may  assume  such  instructive  or  beautiful  forms 
as  are  either  the  spontaneous  expression  of  tlieir  interior 
state,  or  as  their  goodness  may  suggest,  and  unfolded 
wisdom  prompt. 

Some  of  my  readers  may  feel  disposed  to  inquire, 
"  Where  was  my  soul  when  it  made  these  interesting 
discoveries?"  The  response  is :  not  in  space,  not  in 
time  ;  for  I  was  in  a  condition  above  and  beyond  these, 
just  as  tune  is  above  tone,  or  as  meaning  is  above  and 
beyond  the  mere  sound  of  the  words  conveying  it.  I 
sustained  the  precise  relation  to  time,  and  space,  and 
matter,  that  heat  does  to  cold,  light  to  shadow,  shape 
to  essence,  phantasmata  to  reality,  bulk  to  number, 
number  to  mass,  or  any  two  antithetical  things  whereof 
men  may  have  ideas.  I  had  become  a  resident  of  a  new 
universe,  differing  as  greatly  from  that  upon  which 
man's  vision  rests,  as  that  itself  is  different  from  dream- 
land. My  glad  soul  had  crossed  the  shores  of  time 
and  distance,  and  the  barque  of  its  existence  was  fairly 
launched  upon  the  vast  ocean  of  a  new  eternity. 

0,ye  babblers  of  vain  philosophy,  who  nurse  folly 
for  aye,  and  call  it  wisdom,  ye  who  are  so  deeply  en- 
grossed in  nursing  your  pet  theories — theories  planted  on 
nothing,  and  reaching  nowhere,  what  know  ye  really  of 
the  other  stages  of  human  existence  ?  Nothing  I  Aye, 
truly,  nothing !  and  echo,  hollow  echo,  gives  back — 


40  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD: 

nothing !  Aye,  verily,  nearly  all  your  crude  specula- 
tions, and  smooth  plausibilities  are  as  void  of  reality, 
are  as  hollow  as  is  the  shell  of  an  echo  when  all  the 
sounds  have  flown  !  Your  fine-spun  hypotheses,  con- 
cerning the  origin  of  the  human  soul  *  its  nature  and 
the  mode  of  its  existence  subsequent  to  physical  disso- 
lution, are  too  meager  and  unsound, — aye  !  void  as  is  a 
vacuum  of  substance  and  solidity  ;  nor  with  all  your 
loudly  trumpeted  knowledge  of  the  state  and  status 
of  the  soul  after  its  departure  from  the  barbarisms  of 
earthly  life,  to  the  true  social  state  in  realms  where 
civilization  is  first  truly  known,  have  ye  much  else 
than  the  faintest  glimmering  of  the  great  reality.  Phi- 
losophers !  Verily,  much  learning  hath  made  you  mad; 
else  would  ye  have  assigned  the  human  soul  a  better 
than  a  merely  sensual  heaven,  where  lust  should  be 
freely  sated,  and  where  appetite  and  its  varied  gratifi- 
cations constitute  the  sum  total  of  enjoyment.  What 
splendid  conceptions !  What  a  magnificent  destiny ! 
How  worthy  of  the  human  soul !  How  great  a  reward  for 
years  of  agony  !  0,  philosophy,  how  very  lame  thou  art ! 
Thou  tellest  man,  through  thy  oracles,  that  the  spirit- 
home  is  situate  upon  the  upper  surfaces  of  sundry  zone- 
girdles  of  the  planet :  and  by  the  same  rule  we  may  ex- 
pect thee  to  describe  God  as  being  so  many  cubits  high, 
and  so  many  yards  across  the  hips !  Nay,  thou  migh test  as 
well  describe  a  thought  as  containing  just  so  many  cubic 
inches,  and  deal  out  music  to  us  by  the  quart  or  gallon  ! 

*  Which  it  is  firmly  believed  is  herein  briefly  stated  for  the  first 
time  since  the  world  began.  The  meagre  outlines  hereinafter  presented, 
will  be  fully  drawn  and  demonstrated  in  the  succeeding  volume. — 
Publisher. 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  41 

Philosophy,  thou'rt  sick !  else  thou  would  est  have  found 
a  better  adapted  home  for  immortal  beings,  than  an 
electric  land  formed  of  the  rejected  atoms  from  the 
various  earths.  To  thee,  and  in  thy  light,  an  oak  tree 
is  but  an  assemblage  of  material  atoms  :  a  rose,  its 
thorns,  leaves  and.  moss,  are  only  such  :  the  wild  tiger 
of  the  jungle,  the  humped-back  camel  of  Zahara's  sands, 
the  sportive  lamb,  unsightly  toad,  the  serpent  in  the 
grass,  the  dove  in  its  cote  ;  the  flitting  bat,  and  the  flap- 
winged  night-owl,  the  majestic  giraffe,  and  the  beauty- 
plumed  warbler  of  the  forest,  are  to  thee  but  mere  forms 
of  exuberant  life  ;  mere  natural  products,  the  sponta- 
neous gifts  of  an  all-bounteous,  but  unintelligent,  non- 
conscious  natural  force.  Panthea !  Shame  on  thee, 
Philosophy,  shame,  because  with  the  open  book  be- 
fore thee,  thou  hast  steadily  refused  to  read,  nor  ever 
even  dreamed  that  each  one  of  these  things  indicates 
the  stage  of  out-growth  to  which  a  monad — constitut- 
ing its  spiritual  center,  has  arrived  on  its  journey  from 
God,  through  Matter,  back  to  God  through  Spirit !  It 
hath  never  struck  thee  that  each  of  these  things,  and 
all  other  objects  in  the  vast  material  realm,  constitute 
single  letters  in  God's  alphabet,*  and  a  letter  too,  hav- 
ing a  fixed  and  absolute  meaning,  significance,  and  un- 
alterable value.  Weak  man!  thou dostnot  even  imagine 
that  all  these  things  are  of  thyself— thy  kind — abiding 
the  epoch  wherein  they  Willis  thou  hast  already  sprung, 
leap  forth  to  light,  and  new,  and  proper  human  life. 


*  God  said,  '  I  am  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  Beginning  and  the  End.' 
How  beautiful,  how  grand  is  the  light  thrown  on  this  sentence  and  its 
deeper  meaning,  by  the  few  lines  to  which  this  note  is  appended. — 
Publisher. 


42  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

Thou  dost  not  realize  that  they  are  latent,  while  thou 
and  thy  kind  are  active,  self-moving  thoughts  of  one 
great  eternal  thinker  !  Thou  hast  not  yet  learned  that 
every  living  thing,  vegetable  or  sentient,  is  a  temporary 
home  of  a  mighty  monad.  "But  do  you  not  know  that 
scientific  men  have  created  conditions  which  have  pro- 
duced independent,  and  therefore  unknown,  undreamed 
of  forms  of  animal  life,  as  the  acarus  crossi,  and  others  ?" 
This  objection  does  not  invalidate  the  truth,  nor  weak- 
en the  force  of  the  statement.  All  things  have  a  use. 
Nothing  has  been  made  in  vain.  Even  the  most  dis- 
gusting traits  in  animals,  are  matched  in  the  human  ; 
and- the  poverty  and  squalor,  the  obscenity  and  loatli- 
liness  of  many  human  beings,  rival,  nay,  surpass  their 
correspondents  in  the  lower  sentient  world.  Nature  is 
a  system  of  precise  conditions  ;  nor  dare  you  say  that 
there  were  not  conditions  that  befell  a  monad  or  monads, 
in  which  the  eternal  law  did  not  demand  and  secretly 
force  the  effort  of  the  chemist,  which  resulted  in  the 
productions  of  an  acarus,  which  may  have  afforded  the 
necessary  requirements  of  various  monads,  or  human 
germ-souls,  in  one  point  of  their  career. 

All  matter  is  alive  with  imprisoned  spirit ;  every 
globule  of  this  latter,  unique,  and  existing  in  innumer- 
able folds,  contains  a  monad,  a  germ,  concealing  within 
itself  capacities  quite  infinite  in  number  and  power. 
During  its  long  probation  it  ever  seeks  to  escape  its 
outer  bonds,  just  as  certain  shell-fish  and  serpents  cast 
their  old  envelopes.  But  in  every  stage  of  its  unfold- 
ing, every  monad  expresses  a  lesser  or  higher  phase  of  the 
one  great  thought  of  God — Personality,  Coherence? 
Powc     Unity.     All  the   characteristics   of  the  floral, 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  43 

vegetable  and  animal  kingdoms,  are  but  elements  of 
something  higher,  afterwards  expressed  in  the  human. 
Thus  a  fox  means  shrewdness — cunning,  low  cun- 
ning ;  and  that  some  men  have  not  yet  outgrown 
their  recollections  and  applications  of  fox-craft,  is 
self-evident  to  the  most  casual  observer.  The  ass 
is  the  natural  symbol  of  patience,  the  cat  of  3upli- 
city,  the  lion  of  firmness  ;  an  elephant  stands  as  gener- 
osity, the  horse  is  pride  ;  the  peacock,  vanity,  the  dog 
affection;  and  so  on  through  an  infinite  scale  of  varia- 
tions. All  living  things  are  but  developing  monads,  at 
whose  bottom  slumbers  what  will  one  clay  be  an  impe- 
rial human  soul !  And  these  monads  develope  off  their 
surfaces  continually ;  the  longer  and  more  varied  the 
process,  the  more  beautiful  the  grand  result  at  each  suc- 
cessive stage.  Thus  the  monad  whose  highest  manifes- 
tation ten  thousand  years  ago,  may  have  been  a  thistle, 
perchance  looks  up  to  heaven  this  day  from  the  glorious 
eyes  of  a  rose-bush,  or  a  dove.  The  great  truth  seems 
never  to  have  been  apprehended  by  the  great  army  of 
those  who  have  made  thinking  a  business  ;  that  while 
beasts,  trees  and  flowers  are  not,  as  such,  endowed  with 
a  specific  immortality,  yet  at  every  stage  of  their  being 
they  constantly  give  off  images  of  themselves,  which  are, 
and  ever  will  be  immortal.  These  images  constitute 
the  pictures  of  the  soul-world  ;  but  the  essence,  the  in- 
nate force  that  developed  that  of  which  they  are  the 
representations,  returns  to  God  whence  it  started,  a  full 
and  regal  human  soul.  Thus  it  is  seen  how  and  why 
man  is  the  culmination  of  nature,  and  is  brother  to  the 
flower  and  the  worm. 


44  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

"  All  are  but  parts  of  one  stupendous  whole," 
All  sentient  things  the  body, — man  the  regal  soul ! 

No  telescope  has  yet  enabled  man  to  count  the  rounds 
in  the  ladder  of  luminous  worlds  ;  no  microscope  re- 
veals the  mysteries  imbedded  in  a  grain  of  wheat. 
Still  Jie  may  count  them,  if  he  will ;  may  delve  into 
their  secrets  if  he  shall  so  elect;  yea,  if  he  will  but  listen 
to  the  fine  voice  speaking  up  from  his  inmost  deeps,  he 
may  learn  somewhat  of  the 


"  Up,  up,  up,  there  in  the  steep  and  silent  heaven 
there  shines  a  radiant  sun,  more  glorious  than  even  a 
seraph  might  tell.  Its  essence  is  not  matter,  but  spirit ; 
and  from  its  surface  there  go  forth  three  kinds  of  light; 
the  one  in  rays,  another  in  waves.  Condensed,  the  former 
becomes  matter,  and  the  latter  is  the  ocean  in  which  it  is 
upborne, — in  which  the  worlds  are  floating,  and  in  which 
all  things  have  a  being.  Aye  !  all  things  ride  upon 
the  billows  of  this  infinite  sea,  even  as  a  shallop  or  an 
egg-shell  sails  upon  the  tiny  wavelets  of  a  lake.  The 
third  substance  given  off  from  this  great  sun  goes  forth 
in  corruscations.  The  first  kind  of  light  proceeds  from 
the  surface,  the  second  from  the  interior,  the  third 
from  the  very  heart  of  this  infinite  center, — or  from  God's 
body,  His  spirit,  and  His  soul.  The  first  is  pure  fire, 
the  second  pure  life,  the  third  is  the  sea  of  monads. 
Every  scintilla  of  that  which  proceeds  from  the  soul  of 
this  sun  (like  that  which  proceeds  from  a  human  .brain 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  45 

in  action)  is  a  thought,  shot  out  into  the  vast  expanse, 
but  destined  to  return  by  another  pathway,  not  di- 
rect, but  circuitous  and  spiral.  Well,  (says  the  voice 
speaking  from  within  to  the  philosopher  who  is  listen- 
ing to  the  revelation)  I  was  one  of  these  monads,  and 
found  myself  enveloped  in  a  myriad  folds  and  firmly  im- 
bedded in  a  granite  rock,  where  I  remained  shut  up  for 
long  ages,  pining  constantly  for  deliverance  from  the 
thraldom.  Even  then  I  found  my  monad  heart  pulsing 
with  a  divine  life,  and  ardently  longed  to  celebrate 
the  knowledge;  for  I  knew  J.  came  from  Deity,  and 
.longed  for  my  return. 

My  first  recollections  are  of  a  fiery  character,  for 
my  dwelling  was  in  the  very  nucleus  of  a  comet  that 
had  just  been  whirled  into  being.  How  ?  I  cannot 
now  stop  to  explain.  Only  this  will  I  say  :  with  me 
there  were  myriads  of  others,  for  in  every  molecule  of 
spiritual  and  material  substance,  was  imbedded  one  of 
my  brethren,  all  longing  to  escape  and  return  to  the 
heart  of  God,  whence  we  had  been  sent  forth  to  per- 
fect His  great  design. 

The  comet  cooled  :  became  a  world,  and  finally  an 
earthquake  threw  the  block  of  granite  wherein  was  I, 
to  the  surface;  and  bye-and-bye,  after  waiting  many  ages, 
I  found  room  to  move,  and  did  so.  The  result  was 
that  we— the  other  monads  and  myself,  changed  our  outer 
shells  into  moss.  The  moss  died,  and  left  us  free  to 
try  what  further  we  could  do;  for  be  it  known  that  our 
forces  had  not  yet  been  fairly  called  into  action.  The 
next  change  was  a  higher  one,  and  afforded  scope  for 
the  display  of  a  higher  order  of  power.  This  time  I 
became  a  plant •  and  the  next  time  a  plant  of  a  higher 


46  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

character;  at  eacli  epoch  losing  one  coat;*  until  at  last 
I  could  be  plant  no  longer,  and  so  was  forced  by  a  law 
within,  as  well  as  laws  without  myself,  to  become  the 
center  of  an  animal.  And  so  I  ran  the  gamut  of  change 
through  countless  ages;  every  new  condition  being  more 
and  more  favorable,  brought  out  new  properties  from 
within  me,  and  displayed  new  beauties  to  the  sun's 
bright  eye.  I  was  still  a  monad,  and  will  ever  be  such 
in  one  sense;  albeit  Time,  after  reaching  my  human  form, 
will  be  of  no  account, — only  states.  Something  whis- 
pered me  that  I  should  ever  advance  toward;  but  never 
reach  perfection.  I  felt  that,  monad  though  1  was, 
yet  at  my  heart,  my  core,  my  center,  I  was  the  germ  of 
an  immortal  human  soul,  and  that  that  soul  itself  was  des- 
tined to  throw  off  form  after  form  after  its  material  career 
was  ended,  just  as  I  had  all  along  the  ages.  '  And  thug 
I  passed  through  countless  changes,  exhibited  a  million 
characteristics,  until  at  last,  I  who  had  at  first  worn  a 
body  of  fire,  then  of  granite,  then  of  moss,  now  put  on 
a  higher  and  nobler  dress,  and  became  for  the  first  time, 
self-conscious,  intelligent,  and  in  a  degree,  intuitive 
both  as  to  the  past,  the  present,  and  the  future.  And 
all  these  infinite  changes  were  effected  by  thro  wings  off, 
in  regular  order,  just  as  material  suns  throw  off  ring 
after  ring,  which  in  turn  resolve  themselves  into  planet 
after  planet.  During  all  these  transmigrations,  my  monad 
body  was  active,  my  monad  soul  quiescent,  but  ripening  all 


*  An  onion  is  a  familiar  analogue.  As  the  process  went  on  the  mo- 
nad lost  layer  after  layer,  each  one  developing  higher  forms  of  excel- 
lence and  beauty  than  the  preceding, — yet  the  same  monad  still. 
Each  layer  demanding  and  creating,  so  to  speak,  its  proper  require- 
ments and  conditions.    Here  is  the  germ  of  a  grand  system. — Publisher. 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  47 

the  while  ;  first  in  plant,  then  in  the  lower  and  higher 
forms  of  fish,  reptile,  bird,  beast  and  mammcl, — quadruped 
and  bimanal.  Thus  I  had  reached  the  most  distant  pro- 
phecy of  what  I  was  hereafter  to  become;  and  as  it  may 
interest  you  to  learn  the  steps  by  which  I  ascended, 
from  the  pre-human,  to  the  very  human,  I  will  recount 
them  in  general.  The  list  is  therefore  as  follows :  the 
first  approach  to  the  man  was,  when  I  found  myself 
successively  animating,  -as  a  central  life-point,  the  forms 
of  Sima3,  Satyrii,  Troglodyte,  the  Gibbons,  Hylobates, 
and  Cynocephalii,  passing  through  the  specific  forms  of 
Coluga,  Aye-aye,  Banca-Tarsier,  Maholi,  Lemur, 
Loris,  Diadema,  Indrus,  Marikina,  Marmoset,  Douro- 
couli,  Saimari,  Yarke\  Saki,  Couzio,  Cacajou,  Sajou,  Sa- 
kajou,  Araquato,  Meriki,  Coitii,  Marimondi,  Charneck, 
Drill,  Mandril,  Chucma,  (baboon,)  Wanderoo,  Bhun- 
der,  Togue,  Mona,  Quesega,  Colubii,  Budong,  Entellus, 
Kahaw,  (developing  the  human  nose,)  Gibbon,  Siamang  ; 
the  Hylobates,  Orangs,  Chimpanzee,  Gorrilla,  Nschiego, 
Troglodyte,  Kooloo  Kamba,  Barbeta,  Aitcromba,  Ha- 
maka,  (Troglodyte  of  Mount  de  Garrow,)  Neg  ;  Bos- 
jesman,   Hottentot*   Negro,   Malay,  Kanaka,  Digger, 

*  This  theory  must  be  true,  for  an  astonishing  confirmation  thereof 
is  not  only  found  in  the  marvelous  resemblances  between  human  and 
animal  features,  but  in  the  still  more  wonderful  fact,  that  the  human 
foetus  assumes  at  various  stages  of  its  increment,  successively  the  ap- 
pearance of  moss,  lichen,  gelatin,  reptile,  bird,  beast  and  so  on,  all 
the  way  up  to  its  final  human  form,  and  if  the  gestation  in  even  a 
perfect  female  be  interrupted  at  a  certain  stage,  the  child  is  born  with 
the  characteristics  which  distinguish  the  animal  whose  natural  place 
upon  the  ascending  plane  is  that  at  which  the  gestation  was  disturbed. 
The  facial  angle  of  some  persons  is  precisely  that  of  the  Lemurs  ;  the 
human  Lusus  Naturae  so-called,  invariably  resemble  some  beast,  bird, 
reptile  or  monkey.    It  is  but  a.few  years  ago  that  a  negro  woman  o 


48  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

Indian,  Tartar,  Chinese,  Hindoos,  Persians,  Arabian, 
Greek,  Turk,  German,  Ganl,  Briton,  American  !  There's 
the  list,  in  general  terms  ;  specific  explanations  are  not 
needed  at  this  point.  The  last  eighteen  are  strictly 
human,  for  at  the  point  (Neg)  I  ceased  to  develope  ani- 
mal ;  and  in  passing  through  that  highest  form  of  ani- 
mal existence,  I  was  impelled  one  step  further,' and  lo  ! 
the  first  course  of  transmigrations  were  ended  ;  I 
awoke  to  a  consciousness  of  self,  and  man,  the  immortal 
stood  revealed ! 

Thus  I  supply  the  lost  links,  0  Philosophers,  which 
connect  you  with  the  worlds  above,  around,  and  below 
the  plane  on  which  you  move." 

[Note. — The  exact  order  is  not  stated,  for  there  are  many  intermediate 
links  connecting  the  Simiae,  with  the  Lemurs  and  Troglodytes, — or  with 
that  portion  of  the  genus  of  the  Quadrumana  comprising  the  Gorilla, 
higher  Orangs,  Nschiegos  and  Chimpanzees  ;  yet  the  chain  itself  is 
generally  speaking,  quite  correct.] 

Thus  is  completed  the  outlines  of  the  history  of 
a  human  soul.  Let  us  return  to  the  awakening. 
***;#••'*#■■■■*■  I  now  realized  that  the  Soul 
and  Spirit-worlds  were  far  different  from   each  other, 


Charleston,  South  Carolina,  was  delivered,  not  only  of  what  looked 
like  a  monkey — but  which  was  a  monkey  out  and  out.  The  woman 
had  never  seen  a  monkey  in  her  life,  so  that  this  w^is  not  a  case  of 
mere  mother-marking,  but  gestation  was  interrupted  in  some  respects  in 
some  way,  at  about  the  nineteenth  day  after  conception,  while  it  went 
on  normally  in  other  respects.  An  additional  proof  of  the  truth  of  this 
development  theory  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  ordinary  parents  often 
produce  extraordinary  geniuses  5  thus  another  negro  woman  of  the 
same  city  produced  a  boy  by  a  black  and  ignorant  father  who  is  to-day 
one  of  the  most  extraordinary  musical  geniuses  the  world  ever  saw. 

Pub. 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  49 

for  the  former  is  within,  but  the  latter,  like  the 
planetary  worlds,  is  without  ; — not  in  the  sense  of  in 
the  house  and  out  of  the  house,  but  rather- in  the  sense 
of  in  the  bed  and  in  a  dream, — not  exactly,  but  ana- 
logous. The  fact  is,  mankind,  albeit  many  know  it  not, 
are  living  upon  the  confines,  at  least,  if  not  occasionally 
full  residents  of  two  or  three  worlds  at  the  same  time — 
worlds  which  impinge  upon,  and  interlace  each  other, 
just  as  fine  spirit  contacts  rough  matter  ;  and  yet, 
while  this  fact  is  so,  it  happens  likewise  that  in  many 
respects  these  worlds  are  as  wide  apart,  and  distant 
from  each  other,  as  is  Pleiades  from  Mazaroth,  or  distant 
sun  from  twinkling  planet ;  for  the  reason  that  states, 
not  miles,  separate  the  denizens  of  either.  Those  whose 
being  is  in  accord  with  the  vast  Harmonead,  move  alike 
upon  the  shores  of  each  sphere  of  being,  whence  they 
can  catch  the  echoes  and  foot-falls  of  the  pilgrims  on 
both  banks.  Most  people  are  familiar  with  the  stereo- 
typed assertion  that '  Man  is  a  microcosm — a  universe 
in  miniature/  than  which  nothing  can  be  more  correct 
and  true.  The  body  is  not  the  man  ;  neither  is  the 
nerve-center  of  his  brain  that  which  constitutes  "his 
personality,  any  more  than  the  central  spiritual  sun 
around  which  all  material  systems  revolve,  is  the 
supreme  God  himself ;  for  even  as  Deity  dwells  within 
the  centralia  of  that  august  luminary,  so  also  does  the 
very  man  himself  hold  his  court  within  the  bosom  of 
that  magic  sphere  which  exists  within  his  skull.  In 
the  subjoined  descriptfon  of  the  student, — (see  part  two 
of  this  volume)  the  sentient  and  conscious  point  is 
spoken  of  under  the  similitude  and  figure  of  a  fiery  globe. 
The  likeness  is  imperfect  in  some  respects,  for  not  only 
3 


50  DEALINGS  WITH  THE   DEAD.^f 

is  man  a  world  within  himself,  but  he  is  an  entire  sys- 
tem of  worlds,  each  one  of  which  is  perfect  of  its  order, 
full  and  complete.  God  is  at  once  a  center,  a  Republic 
and  a  King.  So  also  is  man  in  a  finite  degree.  His 
faculties  may  be  said  to  constitute  the  distinct  members 
or  States  or  nations  of  the  great  confederation,  where- 
of the  supreme  Ego  is  sovereign  Lord  and  President, — 
one,  however,  who  can,  if  it  so  elect,  assume  and  wield 
despotic  power  over  all  within  the  great  domain.  So 
far  can  this  power  be  carried  and  exerted,  that  pain 
may  be  overcome,  and  even  death  itself  be  kept  at  bay. 
The  will  is  Lord  of  man's  accidents  and  incidents,  and 
if  his  reason  guide  it  well,  nothing  can  withstand  its 
force. 

As  stated  previously,  all  foregone  thoughts  and  deeds 
of  mine  became  objectified  in  my  new  sphere,  or  on 
what  I  can  find  no  descriptive  term,  good  as  that 
of  Memorama,  for  such  it  truely  was, — and  the  fact  of 
its  existence  at  all  ought  to  become  a  significant  one  to 
mortals,  for  even  as  their  deeds  and  thoughts  shall  be 
on  earth,  even  so  will  be  the  delights  or  agonies  conse- 
quent upon  their  inspection  of  these  memory  tables  on 
the  other  shore,  whither  all  must  go,  whether  the  voy- 
age be  agreeable  or  not.  Memory  constitutes  the  basis 
of  man's  heaven  or  his  hell.  On  it  is  founded  the  su- 
perstructure of  his  sorrows  or  his  joys,  and  woe  be  to 
whomsoever  shall  read,  and  reading,  neglect  the  caution 
here  imparted.  I  give  it  in  all  love,  for  I  know  its  im- 
mense importance. 

My  thoughts  and  actions — even  the  minutest,  passed 
before  me,  across  the  polished  surface  of  my  enclosing 
sphere.,  standing  out  in  bold  relief.    The  pictures  in- 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  51 

cessantly  altered  their  aspect,  or  gave  place  to  new 
ones,  but  there  was  something  which  did  not  change, 
but  on  the  contrary  seemed  to  gather  weight  and  dura- 
bility all  the  while.  This  was  the  attention  point, — 
the  focalization  of  all  the  soul's  observant  powers,  nor 
did  it  undergo  any  permutation  whatever.  I  stood,  as 
previously  intimated,  in  the  center  of  a  crystaline 
sphere.  It  was  translucent,  but  not  transparent.  No- 
thing beyond  its  glory-tinted  walls  was  discernible,  but 
all  within  it  stood  revealed  in  grand  and  cryptic  light, 
which,  as  already  observed,  appeared  to  proceed  from 
my  own  head.  The  vertical  diameter  of  this  sphere 
was  not  more  than  fifty  yards,  its  horizontal  one  some- 
what more, — for  its  form  was  slightly  ellipsoidal;  Its 
floor  was  as  a  polished  mirror,  reflecting  not  only  my 
own  image,  but  those  of  all  things  else  within  its  beau- 
tiful walls.  In  this  mirror-like  surface  I  beheld  my 
person  and  features  most  distinctly  ;  and  it  was  quite 
a  matter  of  surprise  to  discover  that  I  was,  without  the 
slightest  effort  on  my  part,  completely  and  beautifully 
clothed  in  garments  of  a  fashion  and  style  which,  of 
all  others,  I  should  have  selected,  had  opportunity  for 
so  doing  been  presented.  Here  is  a  new  mystery  of 
the  Soul-world  which  may  well  engage  the  attention  of 
Psychologians.  Depending  from  my  neck  and  shoulders 
was  a  long  and  flowing  robe,  apparently  'seamless,  and 
woven  of  lightest  gossamer.  The  -fore-arms  and  left 
shoulder  joint  were  bare,  and  I  noticed  that  they,  as 
well  as  my  hands,  had  lost  the  sickly  caste,  and  shrunk- 
en, shrivelled  appearance  formerly  characterizing  them. 
Now,  to  my  great  delight,  they  were  fair,  plump,  and  of 
the  most  dazzling  and  voluptuous  mould  and  propor- 


52  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

tions.  As  I  made  this  happy  discovery,  there  flashed 
across  me  something  of  the  deeper  meanings  slumber- 
ing beneath  the  phrases  "  love,  loving,  and  lovely  ;  " 
and  I  could  comprehend  why  one  person  should  become 
so  en  rapport,  so  obsessed  with,  and  possessed  and  ab- 
sorbed by  another,  as  to  lose  not  only  all  self-control, 
but  self  altogether.  I  could  now  understand  why  the 
most  loving  must  ever  remain  apart,  even  in  the  most 
interior  communion  on  earth,  until  there  are  no  dull 
senses  to  be  bridged,  and  understand  the  amazing  differ- 
ence between  a  love  that  seeks  its  solace  through  sense, 
and  that  which  brings  souls  together.  While  people 
are  enwrapped  in  flesh  and  blood,  love  is  often  obliged 
to  express  itself  in  modes  distasteful  to  its  higher  nature, 
and  unworthy  of  itself.  Not  so  in  the  Soul-world  ;  for 
there  the  very  joy  (magnetic,  if  you  please,)  which  one 
lover  feels  in  the  mere  presence  of  the  other,  reaches  a 
point  of  fullness,  completion  and  intensity  that  mere 
nervous  filaments  are  incapable  of  conveying,  mere  ner- 
vous exhalations  can  never  give.  No  body  is  capable 
either  of  giving  or  receiving,  even  with  the  strongest 
efforts  of  will,  even  a  foretaste  of  the  joys  which  the 
soul,  freed  therefrom,  can  and  does  spontaneously.  The 
keenest  Sybarite, — the  finest-nerved  voluptuary  can 
have  no  adequate  conception,  either  of  the  nature  or 
the  depth  of  the  joy  imparted  mutually  by  two  loving 
souls  in  the  higher  worlds.  Love,  I  have  said,  I  knew 
but  little  of,  and  cared  less  for,  previous  to  my  de- 
parture ;  but  now,  as"  I  gazed  upon  myself,  and  realized 
for  what  I  was  intended,  there  arose  a  something  with- 
in assuring  me  of  my  boundless — limitless  capacity  to 
and  for  love.     And  then  the  gentlediint  of  Nellie  came 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  53 

back,  and  had  the  mate  assigned  me  then  appeared,  I 
do  not  think  lie  would  have  met  a  very  cold  reception. 
Thereafter  all  this  ended  as  God  decreed  it  should — 
rightly. 

Around  my  waist  there  was  a  zone  or  belt  of  blue, 
which  kept  the  fronts  of  my  open  robe  together, 
and  then  fell  floorward  in  two  knotted  tassels  on  the 
left  side.  The  throat  and  uj^er  portions  of  my  bosom 
were  covered  with  what  bore  the  appearance  of  finest 
lace,  whiter  than  the  driven  snow.  The  hair  hung  in 
luxuriant  curl-tresses  adown  my  back  and  cheeks,  which 
latter,  as  disclosed  by  the  floor-mirror,  were  no  longer 
sunken,  sallow  or  emaciated  in  the  least  degree  ;  on 
the  contrary  they  were  round,  full,  white,  fair  as  the 
cheeks  of  daylight,  and  suffused  with  the  softest  and 
most  delicate  tints  of  the  newly- opened  blossom  of  the 
peach  tree.  The  teeth! — I  had  teeth— were  ivory- 
hued,  large  and  even.  The  eyes  were  larger  than  they 
had  ever  seemed  before  ;  their  lashes  were  long,  dark 
and  drooping ;  and  they  were  shaded  by  a  brow  far 
more  delicate  and  finely  pencilled  than  they  ever  were 
on  earth.  My  stature  was  a  trifle  less,  apparently, 
than  when  incarnated,  and  there  was  a  health,  vigor, 
and  freshness,  which  reminded  me  of  the  early  days, 
ere  woman's  estate  had  come  with  all  its  cares  and 
toils,  its  miseries  and  deep  griefs.  About  my  head  there 
was  a  shining  band,  like  nnto  the  spirit  of  a  silver 
coronet,  pearl  and  diamond  frosted,  and  flashing  back 
the  light  from  a  thousand  jeweled  points.  In  the  center 
of  this  zone  was  a  triangle  of  ruby  hue,  surmounted 
with  the  cypher  "  R,"  and  in  its  center  was  a  crystaline 
globe,  winged,  anA  bearing  the  motto,  "  Try." 


^ 


54  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

Curiosity  is  the  soul  of  advancement ;  it  is  a  female 
element  almost  exclusively  ;  and  though  all  else  forsake 
woman,  curiosity  never  will,  either  on  earth  or  any- 
where else.  It  prompted  me  to  the  investigations 
above  recounted,  and  to  others  which  followed  hard 
thereon.  I  ivondered  how  my  feet  and  ankles  looked! 
The  desire  was  no  sooner  formed  tlian  gratified.  The 
latter  were  encased  in  proper  attire,  but  the  former 
not  quite  so,  for  instead  of  a  shoe,  as  I  expected  to  find, 
there  was  only  a  sort  of  sandal, — a  mere  sole,  light 
and  graceful,  fitting  perfectly,  and  seemingly  kept  in 
place  by  narrow  red  bands,  which  were  laced  to  the 
ankles  and  over  the  foot  and  instep.  The  bands  them- 
selves seemed  to  be  of  a  material  no  coarser  than  cords 
of  braided  light.  Such,  in  brief,  were  the  revealments 
of  the  mirror.  "  Mirror !  "  exclaims  the  reader,  "  why 
mirrors  are  adapted  only  to  solar  light,  and  that  which 
proceeds  from  material  combustion.  They  reflect  from 
their  polished  surfaces,  according  to  the  well-known 
laws  of  optics,  which  laws  cannot  possibly  obtain  of 
the  strange  world  of  which  you  were  then  an  occupant, 
— which  realm  lies  above  and  beyond  the  sphere  of 
their  action  or  influence  ;  how  then  could  you  see  the 
image  of  yourself  ?  "  Again  :  "  If  the  first  suit  of 
apparel  in  which  you  found  yourself  after  death,  were 
only  mere  appearances,  of  what  nature  or  character 
were  these  last  ?  If  the  spirit  of  a  human  being  is, 
as  we  are  led  to  infer  from  your  narrative,  in  nowise 
physical,  or  even  hyper-physical,  as  the  Spiritualists 
assert — and  they  claim  to  know  all  about  the  matter, 
• — if  it  is  only  a  phantasmal  projection  from  the  very 
soul, — an  out-attachment  of  the  supreme -self,  how  do 


mr< 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  55 

you  reconcile  your  statements  concerning  '  blue-caste 
hands,  wrinkled  epidermis,  shrivelled  appearance/  and 
so  on,  with  your  subsequent  assertions  that  they  after- 
wards became  fair,  plump  and  beautiful  ?     Do  shadows 
grow  ?    Do  phantasms  avail  themselves  of  the  law  of 
increment  ?      Please   explain  ;   clear  up,   elucidate  !  " 
Reply  :     These  are  the  very  points  concerning  which 
the  people  need  light ;  for  assuredly  that  which  they 
have  heretofore  received,  instead  of  illumining  the  sub- 
jects under  consideration,  have  tended  directly  to  in- 
crease the  already  dense  obscurity,  and  only  rendered 
the  darkness  still  more  palpable  and  dense.     In  order 
to  a  clear  conception  of  what  lies  before  us,  it  will  be 
well  to  remind  each  other  that  both  soul  and  body  act 
under  the  impetus  of  two  distinct  codes  of  law :   the 
one  volitional,  the  other  mechanical,  and  therefore  in- 
voluntary.    An  illustration  of  both  is  seen  in  the  case 
of  a  man  who  either  reading  a  book  or  earnestly  con- 
versing as  he  moves  along,  takes  no  notice  whatever  of 
passing  persons  or  things,  and  yet  pursues  the  direct 
path,  nor  once  misses  his  way.     Both  laws  are  operating 
simultaneously.     The  bodily  powers  are  under  the  same 
government ;  for  the  heart  beats,  digestion  proceeds, 
and  all  the  functions   of  the  physical  economy  are 
carried  on  by  a  power  lying  altogether  back  of  will. 
There  is  also  another  law,  which  from  voluntary,  at 
length  comes  to  manifest  itself  altogether  involuntarily. 
I  refer  to  the  law  of  Habit.     Now  that  this  law  governs 
both  soul  and  body  is  proved  by  a  simple  reference  to 
the  swearing  man,  who  also  drinks  liquor,  chews  to- 
bacco, falls  asleep  at  a  given  hour  and  wakes  up  at  an- 
other.   Whosoever  hums  a  tune  often,  will  at  length 


56  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

be  haunted  by  it,  and  cannot  rid  himself  of  the  tor- 
menting tune-fiend  by  even  the  most  strenuous  resolve  and 
effort  to  do  so.  It,  like  a  fever,  must,  and  will  run  its 
course.  We  also  habituate  ourselves  to  certain  forms 
of  expression,  and  ideal  associations.  Thus  much  by 
way  of  preface. 

Now  it  was  the  involuntary  obedience  of  my  soul  to 
the  Habit-law,  that  caused  it  to  array  itself  in  the  sem- 
blance of  the  old  and  well-remembered  dress.  The 
law  of  the  association  of  ideas  gave  the  '  blue  caste/ 
the  wrinkles  and  the  emaciation  which  so  surprised  me. 

Presently,  however,  I  passed  under  the  operation  of 
higher  laws  of  nature,  and  more  interior  ones  of  my 
own  immortal  soul.  One  of  the  first,  and  most  im- 
portant of  these  last,  is  the  law  of  Yastation — where- 
by the  soul  throws  off  the  old  loves,  preparatory  to 
entering  upon  new  ones.  Its  first  involuntary  act,  in 
the  second,  as  in  the  first  case,  was  to  clothe  itself; 
but  no  longer  subject  to  the  old  law  of  association,  and 
coming  under  a  new  one,  it  rejected,  the  things  of 
memory,  and  assumed  the  garb  corresponding  to  its 
new-born  loves, — all  in  conformity  to  a  law  within  it- 
self. [In  dreams,  the  garb  and  surroundings  are 
typical  or  symbolic  of  mental,  moral  and  esthetic 
states :  therefore  it  is  possible  to  construct  an  exact 
science  of  dream-interpretation.]  And  the  drapery  as- 
sumed was  not  merely  the  result  of  caprice  or  an  in- 
voluntary fantastic  taste,  pride  or  vainness,  but  was 
the  legitimate  and  orderly  result  of  the  triple  law, 
whose  elements  are  fitness,  expression,  and  correspond- 
ence. The  white  drapery  symbolized,  if  not  my  ab- 
solute purity,  at  least  my  aspirations  thitherward, — 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  57 

(and  this  explains  why  all  men  and  women  array  their 
breasts  in  white  bosoms,  frills  and  laces. )  The  bandeau, 
the  zone,  girdle,  jewels,  all  symbolized  an  affection,  as- 
piration or  quality  of  the  inner  being  ;  and  as  these 
latter  change,  so  also  do  the  former.  The  law  is  im- 
perative, because  it  is  a  thing  of  the  soul  itself,  whose 
external  manifestations  invariably — in  the  soul- world — 
represent  its  inward  states  :  moral,  religious  and  in- 
tellectual. 

In  the  light  of  this  explanation,  therefore,  no  one 
need  marvel  at  the  radical  changes  in  my  personal  ap- 
pearance. We  shall  throw  much  more  light  on  the 
general  subject  when  next  we  treat  of  the  mysteries  of 
being.  The  present  undertaking  being  merely  pre- 
fatory, as  a  matter  of  course,  confines  us  to  the  mere 
superficialities  of  a  realm  whose  vastness  exceeds  all 
human  conception.  In  reference  to  the  wrinkles  of  my 
hands,  and  their  sudden  disappearance,  enough  has  been 
said  ;  yet  for  the  information  of  whoso  chooses  to  profit 
by  it,  I  will  merely  add  here,  that  as  Time  only  affects 
man  in  his  outward  relations,  it  cannot,  of  course,  br}ng 
wrinkles  on  his  features,  for  souls  do  not  grow  old  by 
years  ;  albeit  they  do  grow  old  by  experiences, — wiUhout 
reference  to  duration,  but  only  as  to  depth  and  intensity. 
A  single  week  of  mental  agony  will  ripen  a  soul  far 
more  than  would  fifty  centuries  of  clock-beats,  passed 
free  from  the  sorrows  aforesaid. 

Let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  there  are  two  distinct 
and  dissimilar  worlds  beyond  the  grave,  nor  that  I  had 
rapidly  crossed  from  the  first  to  the  second  stage  of  my 
transmundane  existence.  One  of  these  is  the  mere  ex- 
ternal world  of  Spirits,  wherein  a  life,  analogous  to 
3* 


58  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

that  of  earth  is  for  a  period  led  by  the  inhabitants 
thereof.  The  other  is  that,  concerning  the  mysteries 
whereof,  J  am  now  treating. 

Millions  of  beings  there  are  who,  although  disrobed 
of  fleshly  garments,  are  yet  pilgrims  in  search  of  the 
soul-world.  The  latter  is  divine  and  interior,  the 
former  natural  and  merely  Spiritual.  A  man  on  earth 
may  gaze  on  the  surface  of  a  picture,  or  mechanically 
read  a  book,  and  yet  find'  nothing  therein  ;  whereas 
either  of  these  may  lead  another  person  not  only  into 
their  own  beauty-depths,  and  into  the  soul  of  the  painter 
or  the  author  ;  but  they  may  serve  as  clues  which  his 
sou}  may  seize  on  and  follow  into  realms  never  even 
imagined  to  exist  by  the  poet-painter,  or  the  painter- 
poet.  So  also  the  mere  mortuary  fact  by  no  means 
serves  as  a  free  ticket  or  pass  into  the  grand  Temple, 
at  the  mere  vestibule  of  which  grim  Death  lands  those 
who  take  passage  in  the  phantom  shallop,  whereof  him- 
self .is  pilot  and  steersman.  The  mere  post  mortem  exist- 
ence does  not  necessarily  entitle  one  to  all  the  privileges 
of  the  Temple,  nor  make  one  a  resident  of,  or  even 
spectator  of  the  worlds  of  Soul.  True,  there  will  occur 
a  change  in  all,  whereby  they  can  pass  the  mystic  ferry  ; 
but  this  change  must  be  worked  out  from  within,  and 
in  no  wise  depend  upon  outside  influences  ;  it  must  be 
volitional,  not  mechanical.  The  ferriage  must  be  paid 
in  well-wishing  and  better  doing.  The  life  beyond  is 
a  real  one,  compared  to  which  that  of  earth  is  a  mere 
shadow,  and  the  form  of  Government  is  an  isonomous 
one  ;  equal  rights,  equal  laws,  impartial  justice,  ad- 
ministered, not  by  external  agents  of  an  outward  power, 
but  by  the  very  constitutional  delegates  from  the  secret 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  59 

soul  itself ;  for  no  justice  is  so  very  just  as  that  which 
each  soul,  by  virtue  of  its  own  nature,  administers  to 
itself,  and  through  which  its  lower  becomes  subordinated 
to  its  higher  and  nobler  faculties,  qualities  and  powers. 
And  this  is  the  law  that  keeps  many  a  one  from  enter- 
ing the  sacred  penetralia  until  properly  disciplined 
and  prepared  for  the  change. 

I  wondered  at  first  why  these  truths  were  not  more 
generally  known  and  appreciated  by  the  people,  who, 
because  they  have  an  intellectual  perception  of  the  fact 
of  immortality, -call  themselves  "  Spiritualists  ;  "  but  as 
the  veil  was  slowly  drawn  away,  and  I  saw  that  much 
that  had  to  me  appeared  real,  proved  now  to  be  but 
seeming  ;  there  was  no  more  marveling.  There  was, 
still  is,  and  for  a  long  time  will  be,  four  sorts  of  Spirit- 
ualism in  the  world  :  First,  a  mere  bodily  sensitiveness, 
nervous  acuteness,  and  susceptibility  to  magnetic 
emanations  and  impressions,— out  of  which  arises  a 
great  deal  of  the  stagnant  filth  and  social  corruptions  so 
prevalent, — the  debaucheries  and  license,  and  great  evils 
which  pain  so  greatly  the  hearts  of  true  men  and  wo- 
men. Second,  a  Spiritualism  of  the  brain  alone  ; — a 
cerebral  quickening, — a  hot-house  ripening  of  faculty, 
which  gives  rise  to  much  talking,  and  sometimes  leads 
to  the  discovery  of  many  of  the  elements  of  the  great 
principia  underlying  the  Harmonead,  and  prophecies 
the  good  time  that  is  yet  to  be.  Third,  "compact" 
Spiritualism,  or  that  wherein  and  whereby  a  certain 
class  of  sensitives,  be  they  male  or  female,  become  the 
dupes  of  their  own  folly,  and  the  victims  of  disembodied 
maniacs,  lunatics  and  self-deluded  denizens  of  the  middle 
state — Spirits  who  wander  on  the  outskirts  of  three 


60  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

worlds,  without  a  permanent  resting-place  in  either. 
These  have  been  useful,  however,  inasmuch  as  they  have 
called,  and  even  compelled  attention  to  phenomena 
which  they  produce,  and  which  cannot  be  explained 
away,  nor  accounted  for,  save  by  admitting  two  things  ; 
first,  that  immortality  is  a  fixed  fact ;  and  second,  that 
it  is  possible  to  bridge  the  hitherto  impassable  chasm 
which  divides  earth  from  regions  which  lie  beyond. 
The  fourth  kind,  and  truest  and  best,  indeed  that  which 
only  is  truely  spiritual,  is  the  growing  up  into  a  spiritual- 
ized, out  of  the  merely  physical  selfhood  ;  and  this 
growth  of  soul  necessarily  admits  the  subject  of  it  into 
the  mysteries  of  being,  precisely  in  accordance  with  the 
degree  of  the  person's  own  unfolding.  It  is  the  off- 
spring of  good  resolutions,  well  and  faithfully  carried 
out  -p  ignores  pride,  talk,  lust,  hatred,  envy,  malice,  slan- 
der, and  all  else  which  characterizes  the  other  three 
sorts.  Immortality  is  to  such,  not  an  acquired,  but  an 
intuitive  fact.  Such  Spiritualists  are  good,  moral,  Hu- 
mane, charitable,  merciful,  kind  and  true ;  religious, 
Christian  in  deed,  as  well  as  name  ;  and  such  as  these 
are  never  pulling  down,  but  ever  building  up  the  Good, 
the  Beautiful,  and  the  True ;  and  when  such  an  one  dies, 
his  or  her  stay  in  the  Middle  State  is  very  short,  for 
they  have  paid  their  ferriage,  and  are  speedily  intro- 
mitted  to  the  mysteries  and  grandeurs  of  the  world  of 
Soul. 

Such  an  one  is  unfolded  ;  and  by'this  term  is  not 
meant  that  state  to  which  a  man  arrives'  after  packing 
the  contents  of  two  or  three  libraries  on  the  shelves  of 
his  memory ;  by  that  term  is  not  nieant  the  condition 
of  one  who  has  arrived  at  honor  and  distinction  by  dint 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  61 

of  mere  acquaintance  with  learned  authorities,  and  the 
accumulation  and  piling  up  of  knowledge  of  various 
common  and  popular  sorts  ;  for  it  frequently  happens 
that  men  and  women,  who  are  very  ignorant  of  all 
these  things, — and  who,  so  far  as  they  are  concerned, 
are  not  "  progressed  "  at  all,  prove  on  trial  to  be  far 
more  "  unfolded "  than  thousands  of  those  who  have 
grown  gray  fn  the  service  of  Letters,  and  who  have, 
by  persistent  assiduity  succeeded  in  transforming  them- 
selves from  human  beings  into  locomotive  encyclopedias 
— splendid  to  look  at,  interesting  to  dine  with  and  talk 
to — but  cold,  ugheartful  encyclopedias  after  all.  Edu- 
cation is  often  a  mere  mechanical  mastery  of  useless 
abstrusities, — coins,  which  on  the  social  counters  jingle 
well, — but  which  are  not  over  and  above  current  in  the 
far-off  worlds, — where  a  boor's  earnest  prayer  weighs 
far  more  than  the  ornate,  rhapsodical  orisons  of  scores 
of  learned  pedants,  who,  to  judge  them  by  their  lan- 
guage, take  God  to  be  a  school  committee,  rather  than 
a  loving,  tender  Parent. 

Thu3  I  found  true,  what  had  previously  been  surmised, 
that  a  person  may  know  but  little,  yet  approach  much 
nearer  the  Divine,  than  one  who  has -more  brain  furni- 
ture, with  a  great  deal  less  heart. 

It  was  revealed  to  my  understanding  that  the  great 
law  of  Yastation,  by  whose  operation  the  monad  de- 
veloped moss,  threw  it  off,  and  brought  forth  something 
better  and  higher,  until  at  last  the  conscious  point — the 
truly  human  degree — was,  after  the  lapse  of  ages, 
reached,  did  not  cease  its  functions  even  after  the  death 
of  the  body,  albeit  its  mode  of  action  was  somewhat 
changed  and  modified  ;  for  now  it  was  observed  by  me, 


62  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

that  while  the  soul  -may,  both  prior  and  subsequent  to 
death,  draw  in  knowledge  from  without — inspiration, 
progression,  procession — it  may  also  expand  from  within, 
and  enter  consecutively  domain  after  domain  in  the 
Soul-deeps  of  its  almost  infinite  being.  This  is  aspira- 
tion, ^unfolding — development;  and  -ever  will  the  im- 
mense, the  immortal  thing,  continue  to  vastate  the  bad, 
the  ill,  imperfect  and  untrue,  so  long  as  any  of  such 
remains  to  be  thrown  off,  as  it  has  been  doing  ever  since 
the  clock  of  Time  struck  one  upon  the  bell  on  Eternity's 
tower !  It  will  continue  the  process  until  that  tower 
itself  shall  topple  and  fall  with  hoary  age  ! 

The  figure  of  an  onion,  though  a  homely,  is  neverthe- 
less a  good  one,  inasmuch  as  it  offers  a  familiar  illustra- 
tion of  the  monad  ;  for,  first,  there  is  the  two  or  three 
external  skins,  after  which  comes  layer  after  layer,  until 
at  last  we  find  a  center,  which  center  contains  an  invisi- 
ble, because  a  spiritual  point,  which  constitutes  the 
germ  or  seed-principle,  containing,  latent  in  its  bosom, 
countless  acres  of  onions,  that  are  and  are  not,  at  the 
same  time — fields  of  plenty,  seeds  of  mighty  harvests, 
which  only  need  the  necessary  conditions  to  prove  their 
power  and  develop  their  capacities. 

Philosophers  have  long  sought,  with  their  crude  plum- 
mets, to  sound  the  bottomless  abysses  of  man's  immortal 
soul.  Spiritualists,  in  their  turn,  have  tried  to  do  the 
same— aye  !  and  loudly  boasted  of  their  success.  Suc- 
cess, forsooth  !  Wiry  their  lead,  even  when  all  the  line 
attached  thereto  was  well  run  out,  rested  on  one  or 
more  of  [the  very  topmost  ledges  of  the  unfathoma- 
ble and  vast  profound — their  weights  only  lodged  on 
the  upper  crags  of  one  or  more  of  the  tiniest  moun- 


"  DEALINGS  WITH  THE   DEAD.  63' 

tains,  whose  heads  are  upreared  from  the  floor  of  the 
great  ocean  Soul.  Proclaiming  man  to  be  a  world  in 
miniature,  they  have,  in  their  treatment  of  him  and  his, 
not  only  belied  and  stultified  themselves,  but  have 
shown  that,  after  all,  he  was  to  be  classed  with  "  all 
other  worms  of  the  dust" — a  semi-voluntary  automa- 
ton—a skip-jack,  to  be  coaxed,  wheedled  and  driven, 
just  as  circumstances  might  dictate  and  decree.  Theo- 
retically, to  them,  he  is  a  God  ;  practically,  a  mere  ma- 
chine, whose  office  and  function  it  is  to  eat,  drink,  be 
merry,  sleep,  wake  up,  labor,  and  beget  his  kind — whose 
destiny,  in  turn,  it  is  to  repeat  the  same  identical  round, 
with  perhaps  a  few  trifling  and  unimportant  varia- 
tions— totally  forgetful  or  unconscious  of  the  fact,  that 
when  pronouncing  him  to  be  a ,  microcosm,  they  were 
uttering  a  sentence  brimfull  of  God's  everlasting  truth. 
Philosophers  have  a  bad  habit  of  saying  one  thing  and 
meaning  another  ;  for  while  loudly  declaring,  they  never 
yet  have  fairly  believed,  that  howsoever  vast  the  uni- 
verses without  may  be,  yet  all  and  each  of  them  grow 
diminutive  and  contracted  when  compared  with  those 
that  exist  within  the  Soul.  Nay,  they  have  never  real- 
ized that  all  that  has  a  being  outside  of  man  is  met,  mas- 
tered and  overmatched  by  an  infinite  universe  from 
within  ! 

Crime !  folly  ! — what  are  they  ?  Philosopher,  an- 
swer thou  me  !  "  They  are,  they  are — they  are — well, 
I  can  hardly  tell  what  they  really  are."  I  will  tell 
you  :  these  things  frequently  mark  the  career  of  the 
'  Progressed '  man — never  that  of  the  developed  or  un- 
folded one — and  in  all  cases  are  either  the  result  of 
impulse,  Spirit-obsession,  or  of  a  bad  calculation.   When 


64  .        DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

nations  merely  '  Progress/  every  jail-yard  has  its  gib- 
bet ;  when  the  people  are  '  Unfolded,'  temples  for  God- 
worship  take  their  places.  Philosophers  try  to  explain 
away  all  crime  and  evil,  knowing  it  to  be  real ;  yet  at 
the  same  time  treat  the  doers  of  ill-deeds  as  if  they  were 
not  fitter  subjects  for  soul-hospitals  than  for  thumb- 
screws and  disgrace.  They  forget  that  society  gains 
nothing  by  making  a  man  think  less  of  himself !  In- 
stead of  pursuing  really  reformatory  methods  with  those 
who  are  vicious  or  whose  souls  are  sick,  they  Jiave 
favored  the  policy  of  revenge  and  atonement,  and 
adopted  the  lex  talionis  instead  of  the  lex  justitice— 
as  Common  Sense,  if  nothing  else,  would  ever  seem  to 
dictate,  counsel,  and  approve. 

The  Social  Harmonead  is  yet  to  be.  Discord  rules 
the  age.  The  human  soul  is  unbalanced.  Equilibrium 
and  Yirtue  come  together.  By-and-by,  Philosophers 
will  realize  this  truth.  Men  who  gaze  intently  on  the. 
wonderful  perfection  of  the  outer  Harmonead,  and 
realize  its  vast  excellence,  constantly  fail  to  recognize 
the  fact  that  the  inner  world  of  man  would  be  the  same 
were  but  Charity  and  kindly  dealing,  in  thought  as  well 
as  act,  to  take  precedence  of  Suspicion  and  Punishment. 
As  yet  the  world  is  but  a  baby-realm.  There  are  no 
real  saints  therein  at  present,  for  the  reason  that  the 
currents  of  the  time  are  not  adapted  to  the  floating  of 
that  species  of  craft ;  nor  will  the  social  gardens  pro- 
duce that  sort  of  fruit  until  it  is  well  subsoiled  by  char- 
ity plows  and  common  sense.  At  present,  probably  but 
few  men  or  women  live  on  earth,  no  matter  how  abste- 
mious they  may  be,  nor  how  correct  and  staid  their  de- 
portment, but  in  whose  hearts  lurk  many  a  thistle  seed, 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  65 

ready  to  spring  up  and  pester  the  world  whenever  bad 
conditions  shall  call  them  into  active  life  ;  nor  can  there 
be  a  pure  saint,  until  every  one  of  these  seeds  shall  be 
deprived  of  life.  Then,  when  this  is  done,  no  matter 
what  thq  soil  may  be,  it  can  produce  none  but  beauty- 
laden  forms  of  excellence.  When  the  great  truth  is 
made  apparent  to  the  people,  that  the  greatest  sin  a 
person  can  possibly  commit — taking  the  future  as  well 
as  the  present  into  the  account — is  the  sin  against  him 
or  herself,  society  will  rapidly  purge  itself  of  wrong, 
and  there  will  be  fewer  bad  memories  to  haunt  and  ter- 
rify them  after  life's  troublous  drama  shall  end,  and  far 
fewer  leaden-hued  pictures  be  reflected  from  the  mirror- 
floors  of  the  world  of  Soul. 

"Wealth,  the  possession  of  riches,  is,  on  earth  and  in 
all  human  society,  the  universal  passport  to  honor  and 
distinction.  This  is  one  of  the  fallacies  of  man^  and  the 
greatest ;  but  the  good  deeds  done  to  the  neighbor  and 
the  self  are  hereafter  changed  into  a  kind  of  coin  read- 
ily current  in  the  lands  beyond  the  tomb. 

Now  no  one  thing  yet  unaccomplished  is  more  certain 
to  come  to  pass,  than  that  this  lesson  will  yet  be  learned 
by  the  people.  When  it  is  mastered,  there  will  be  far 
less  strife  for  the  honors  and  emoluments  of  office,  and 
the  universal  cry  will  be,  '  Whom  can  we  get,  who  shall 
we  persuade  to  be  our  Ruler,  President,  or  King?' 
1  Who  can  we  employ  to  fill  those  offices  ?'  instead  of 
1  Yote  for  me  !'  as  now.  Mankind  on  earth  do  not,  as 
we  of  the  Soul-world,  seek  for  joys  that  are  pure,  and 
purely  human,  too  ;  they  do  not,  as  we,  drink  from  cha- 
lices at  "Whose  bottom  no  dregs  are  found  after  the  ruby 
wine  has  been  sipped.     Alas,  no  I   but,  instead,  they 


66  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

seek  for  such  joys  as  are  absolutely  sure  to  leave  a  sting 
behind,  and  Repentance,  Agony  and  Remorse  are  the 
terrible  triplet  they  are  obliged  to  nurse,  for  0  how 
long !  This  is  moral  and  spiritual  suicide — so  far  as 
super-mundane  joys  are  concerned — suicide,  slow  but 
sure  ;  and  such  souls,  on  entering  the  Middle  State,  are 
poor,  and  thin,  and  lean,  and  powerless,  for  deed&or 
thoughts  either  good  or  great  •  and  memory  reflects 
back  but  few,  if  any  pleasant  images,  but,  in  lieu  there- 
of, presents  for  inspection  and  as  food  for  contempla- 
tion, an  array  of  barren  mountains,  fierce  whirlpools, 
crags  toppling  over  into  dreadful  darkness,  beetling 
cliffs,  from  whose  bald  summits  the  vulture  and  the 
night-owl  shriek  and  scream.  No  pleasant  pasture  lands 
begem  the  picture — no  sweetly-singing  rivers  of  de- 
light— but  only  things  of  wierdness,  rage  and  fury,  set  as 
centers  into ,  pictures  representing  boisterous  and  tem- 
pestuous seas,  cold  and  dreary  ice-islands,,  or  desert 
sands  which  swallow  up  the  sunshine,  the  moisture  and 
the  rain,  but  never  smile  with  a  single  green  or  lovely 
thing.  These  are  symbols  and  similes  of  the  Soul's 
states,  and  are  the  legitimate  and  inevitable  out-crea- 
tions of  itself ;  but,  thank  God  !  not  of  its  inner  deeps, 
else  the  universe  might  well  run  mad,  and  every  living 
thing  curse  its  God  and — die.  True  it  is  that  none  of 
these  frightful  thingsxare  the  results  of  the  natural  and 
unbiassed  choice  of  any  human  creature,  yet  they  are 
none  the  less  real  in  the  second  stage  of  existence,  for 
the  reason  that  Destiny  forever  compels  a  man  to  be 
himself.  Sooner  or  later  he  will  bring  himself  volun- 
tarily to  acknowledge,  bow,  and  bend  before  it ;  and 
the  instant  that  he  does  so,  the-  grand  Yastatory  law 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  67 

comes  into  play,  and  he  slowly  emerges  from  Hell,  and 
takes  the  road  to  Heaven  ! 

So  far  in  human  history  on  the'earth,  the  Devil  has 
proved  a  lailurc — utter,  total  Aand  complete.  Not  so 
Evil.  This  latter  works  out  its  mission  well,  even  if  it 
does  no  more  than  to  convince  man  that  his  only,  best 
and  truest  friends  are  himself  and  Jfoe  Infinite  God 
whose  child  he  is. 

In  the  higher  realms,  to  which  mankind  is  destined, 
his  actions  are  never  the  result  of  an  applied  force  from 
outside  himself ;  but  when  voluntarily  submitting  to 
the  pressure  from  within,  he  is  irresistibly  led  from  bad 
to  better,  and  from  better  to  Best.  Eeaching  this 
point,  he  no  longer  rebels — not  against  God,  but  against 
himself — his  higher,  nobler,  better  nature — but,  giving 
up  all  of  mere  self,  begins  to  desire  nothing  so  much  as 
to  love  and  be  loved,  to  serve  God  and  minister  unto 
others'  good — and  at  last  finds  himself  standing  in  >  the 
Door  of  the  Dawn,  having  emerged  from  the  Hades  of 
his  own  and  others'  making,  and  stepped  into  his  house 
not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  Heavens— house- 
spheres  such  as  I  have  partially  described,  prepared  for, 
and  in,  and  of  him,  from  the  foundations  of  the  Ages — 
houses  which  are  indeed  builded  upon"  very  pleasant 
spots,  on  sunny  glades  and  love-tinted  hillocks  on  God's 
Eternal  Domain — houses,  too,  which  men  often  refuse  to 
enter  and  occupy  till  after  the  lapse  of  years  of  misery 
spent  in  the  horrid  caves  and  unsightly  huts^  dug  and 
builded  by  themselves. 

All  these  things  flashed  in  upon  my  soul,  as  I  stood 
gazing  into  the  mirror  on  the  floor,  and  upon  the  vivo- 
graphs  of  Memory  gliding  by  upon  the  walls,  in  which 


68  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

every  event  of  my  life,  no  matter  how  trivial,  was 
clearly  represented.  Not  a  good  thought  or  deed,  no 
matter  how  private — not  a  single  sin,  no  matter  how 
venial—but  was  there  reproduced  for  my  inspection  and 
instruction— moving,  with  all  their  foregone  accessories, 
across  the  walls  of  that  magic  globe.  They  were  living 
icons,  perfect  rescripts,  of  all  foredeeds,  thoughts,  ac- 
tions— and  transcripts,  all  too  faithful,  of  the  volumes 
of  my  memory.  Soon  all  this  passed  along — the  last 
scene  being  that  of  my  death  within  the  chamber  of  the 
house  upon  the  hill.  Scarcely  had  it  vanished,  whither 
I  knew  not,  than  a  blank  section  moved  across  the  line 
of  vision,  almost  instantly  succeeded  by  a  Phantorama 
still  more  wondrous  and  imposing.  Instead  of  repre- 
senting myself  alone,  this  second  picture  revealed  the 
results,  both  direct  and  indirect,  of  my  personal  influ- 
ence upon  others,  whether  exerted  in  a  domestic,  social, 
or  professional  capacity.  I  could  not  help  being  par- 
ticularly struck  with  one  tableau,  which,  as  it  embodies 
a  moral  lesson,  I  will  here  stop  to  briefly  describe  : 

I  saw  myself  in  the  act  of  warm  disputation  with  a 
friend,  on  a  subject  well  calculated  to  elicit  the  best 
thought  of  the  best  thinker.  I  had  the  right  of  the 
argument,  and  this  was  so  apparent  that  my  friend  with 
whom  I  was  arguing*  lost  temper.  At  the  time  of  the 
occurrence,  I  took  but  little  note  of  the  matter,  not 
deeming  it  a  subject  of  very  great  importance.  Now, 
however,  I  saw,  what  surprised  me  greatly,  that  this 
mental  excitement  had  reacted'  physically,  and,  in  run- 
ning its  course,  brought  on  a  slight  inflammation  of  the 
brain— -a  sort  of  slow  but  positive  fever,  which,  while 
not  confining  the  patient,  yet  affected  both  soul  and 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  69 

body  to  a  great  extent,  and  so  modified  the  cerebral 
constituents,  that  the  immortal  soul  therein  dwelling 
for  a  season,  could  not  thereafter  manifest  itself  as  for- 
merly. I  now  realized  that  chemistry,  in  the  higher 
sense,  was  an  efficient  force  in  the  human  mental,  as 
well  as  in  the  material  economy — that  changes  in  the 
physical  cells  of  the  brain  could  be  made  by  intellectual 
excitations,  and  that  these  in  a  great  measure  affect 
the  mental  and  psychical  operations,  even  to  the  extent 
of  a  complete  boideversement.  In  consequence  of  the 
change  effected  in  the  individual  alluded  to,  projects 
of  various  kinds,  previously  determined  on,  had  to  be 
given  up — for  which  reason  the  entire  current  of  a  life 
was  turned  completely  ;  nor  is  it  for  me  to  say  whether 
greater  good  or  ill  will  be  the  ultimate  or  final  result — 
for  the  reason  that  as  yet  I  can  neither  see  the  origin 
nor  end.  These  are  only  known  by  the  Infinite  One 
above  us  and  beyond.  Suffice  it,  therefore,  to  observe, 
that  had  I  known  what  weight  inhered  in  words,  whether 
lightly,  harshly  or  kindly  spoken,  especially  to  the  sen- 
sitive and  susceptible  natures  of  many  of  earth's  pil- 
grims, never  would  I  have  uttered  $  syllable  without 
well  weighing  the  possible  consequences  thereof ;  espe- 
cially would  I  have  kept  back  all  which  bore  the  slight- 
est resemblance  to  heat  or  anger.  0,  what  a  wondrous 
thing  is  a  human  soul !  Until  now  it  was  not  clear  to 
me  that,  by  virtue  of  both  a  static  and  dynamic  law  of 
the  universe,  human  happiness  is  derivative,  and  ever 
depends  upon  the  amount  and  kind  bestowed  upon  or 
imparted  to  another.  The  law  is  dual,  that  is,  it  works 
both  ways  ;  for  even  as  a  man  or  woman  finds  joy  in 
the  act  of  causing  or  of  bringing  joy  to  others,  so  also 


70  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

the  misery  and  woe  which  A  may  cause  B,  C,  D  and 
E  to  feel  or  undergo,  not  only  reacts  upon  A  by  force 
and  virtue  of  the  great  Sympathia,  but  it  is  utterly  im- 
possible for  A  to  be  happy,  so  long  as  the  least  trace  of 
his  or  her  action  mauvaise  remains  with  B,  C,  D,  E,  F 
and  G.  Nor  is  this  all ;  for  if  these  last  persons- act 
badly  toward  H,  I,  J  and  K,  said  actions  being  the 
legitimate  result  of  A's,  originally,  upon  B,  C,  D,  E,  F 
and  G,  then  A  cannot  escape  the  consequences,  no  mat- 
ter how  distant  or  in  whatever  corner  of  God's  universe 
he  may  be,  or  in  whatever  crevice  of  the  great  creation 
he  may  seek  to  hide.  A  wave  or  ray  of  agony  from  B, 
C,  and  the  rest  of  the  alphabet,  will  finally  reach  him  ! 
A  lash  from  the  great  whip  of  conscience  or  remorse 
will  fall  on  him,  when  rocks  and  mountains,  though 
heart-implored,  refuse  to.  Until  the  law  of  compensa- 
tion is  satisfied,  he  shall  never  fail  to  hear,  peeling  into 
his  soul  from  the  lacerated  hearts  of  others,  the  terrific 
sentence  :  '  Thou  art  the  man !  thou  hast  done  it !  Pay 
what  thou  owest !'  If  the  reflections  shall  prove  to 
have  been  good  instead  of  evil,  then  .the  words  which 
shall  be  heard  will  be  :  '  Even  as  thou  hast  done  it  unto 
the  least  of  these,  my  servants,  thou  hast  done*it  unto 
me.  Well  done,  thou  good  and  faithful  servant !  enter 
thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord !  Take  up  thine  abode  in 
the  mansions  of  bliss,  prepared  from  the  foundations  of 
the  world  V  The  coin  of  heaven  is  ever  stamped  with 
the  seal  of  a  person's  deeds,  be  they  good  or  evil. 

This  soul-law  is  well  illustrated  by  an  anecdote  which 
I  remember  to  have  heard  related  prior  to  my  entrance 
into  the  wonderful  realm,  whereof  I  now  found  myself 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  71 

a  denizen.  The  story  was  related  by  a  male  friend. 
Said  he  : 

"  Many  years  ago,  when  a  mere  lad  of  ten  or  a  dozen 
years,  I  lived  in  the  Metropolis  of  America,  where  also 
I  was  born.  One  day  several  lads  of  us  were  playing 
at  ball  in  a  street  then  called  '  Chapel/  but  since  known 
as  West  Broadway.  In  throwing  the  toy  at  one  of  my 
playmates,  it  missed  him,  and  crashed  through  the  win- 
dow of  a  shoe-mender's  shop,  the  proprietor  of  which  be- 
came greatly  enraged,  and  in  a  paroxysm  of  fury  not 
only  cursed  and  swore  most  dreadfully  at  us,  but  also 
seized  the  offending  ball,  and  threw  it  on  his  burniug 
grate  ;  we,  poor  mourners,  in  the  mean  while  looking 
down  into  the  fiery  grave  of  all  our  sport.  Tears,  ex- 
postulations, and  entreaties  were  all  so  much  wasted 
breath,  and  proved  utterly  unavailing.  The  ball,  un- 
fortunate ball,  was  irrevocably  doomed  to  an  igneous 
tomb ;  nor  could  all  our  prayers,  joined  as  they  were, 
to  abundant  offers  on  our  part,  and  that  of  several 
pitying  on-lookers,  to  doubly  pay  the  cost  of  the  de- 
molished glass,  soften  the  obdurate  heart  of  the  revenge- 
ful cobbler  in  the  least  degree.  Burn  that  ball  he  swore 
to  ;  utterly  consume  it  he  vowed  to,  and  most  religiously 
he  kept  his  promise. 

The  ball  was  burnedr  but  as  the  smoke  of  its  ,  sub- 
stance,— the  remains  of  two  worn-out  stockings  and 
an.  india-rubber  shoe, — and  of  our  torment,  went  up 
towards  heaven,  there  accompanied  it  a  most  dire  threat 
of  vengeance  from  out  my  boyish  heart, — proud,  indig- 
nant little  human  heart,  which  then,  for  the  first  time, 
swelled  almost  to  bursting  with  vindictiveness  and  rage. 
In  my  paroxysm  of  fury  I  swore  a  vendetta  more  fierce 


72  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

and  terrible  than  that  of  the  Orsini  against  their  mortal 
foes,  the  Borgias  of  sunny  Italia.  I  resolved  to  kill, 
slay,  totally  extinguish  the  whole  race  of  cobblers, — 
but  that  one  in  particular.  His  doom  was,  to  be  killed, 
slain,  cut  to  pieces,  remorselessly  and  cruelly  murder- 
ed, after  which  his  soul  was  to  be  eternally  damned, 
roasted,  stewed,  broiled  and  grilled  for  evermore,  upon 
the  gridirons  of  the  infernal  pit — all  for  burning  a  six- 
penny ball !  For  ten  long  days  and  nights  I  pondered 
on  the  subject,  and  sought  to  contrive  means  whereby 
to  carry  out  my  philanthropic  design.  Having  heard 
and  read  of  battles,  bloodshed  and  gory  fields  of  human 
slaughter,  wherein  he  who  did  the  most  murder  was 
the  greatest  hero  ;  having  heard  and  read  of  human 
butchers  and  butchery,  my  heart  had  turned  from  the 
one,  and  I  shuddered  at  the  picture  of  the  other.  Now 
however,  all  these  images  of  horror  returned.  I  still 
hated  them,  but  of  all  others,  it  seemed  to  me  that  that 
ball-burning  shoe-mender  was  the  most  atrocious  fiend 
that  ever  trod  the  earth.  In  my  boyish  frenzy  I  vowed 
he  was  an  ogre,  giant,  demon,  and  all  else,  that  was 
horrible  and  bad,  to  rid  the  earth  of  whom  would  be 
doing  an  especial  and  particular  favor  to  God,  nature 
and  human  kind.  Amidst  all  the  scourges  and  pests 
who  had  ever  trod  the  earth  frOm  Ghengis  Khan  to^ 
Lord  Jeffries,  not  one  loomed  up  who  was  half  so  cri- 
minal, half  so  deserving  of  the  intensest  scorn  and 
maledictions  of  the  human  race,  as  was  that  unfortunate 
and  guilty  cobbler.  We  resolved  that  he  must  die, 
and  die  by  powder  and  fire  ;  but  in  consequence  of  the 
fact,  that  the  explosive  grains  were  rather  unpopular 
just  then,  while  both  guns  and  pistols,  fire-crackers, 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  73 

double-headers,  and  torpedoes,  being  strictly  prohibited 
by — the  constable  round  the  corner, — we  concluded  to 
defer  the  execution  of  the  malefactor  till  the  ensuing 
Fourth  of  July,  then  a  matter  of  some  eight  months  dis- 
tant. But  at  last,  it  came.  Our  revenge  had  slept, 
but  was  by  no  means  extinguished.  The  ogre  dwelt  in 
the  same  place  still.  The  hour  for  dire  retribution 
drew  fearfully  near — and  at  length  arrived.  The  cob- 
bler's doom  was  sealed.  Our  maleficent  congress — 
boys,  all  under  twelve — had  resolved  that  he  must  die, 
then  or  never,  so  far  as  we  were  concerned.  Pistols 
and  powder  being  still  as  scarce  as  ever,  we  assailed 
the  enemy  with  a  large  string  of  ignited  Chinese  crack- 
ers, in  lieu  of  guns  and  bullets — articles  de  campaign — 
not  procurable,  owing  to  the  limited  resources  of  our 
combined  exchequer. 

We  suffered  a  defeat — a  rout,  total  and  complete — 
nor  did  one  of  us  escape  what  the  cobbler  called  a 
1  welting,'  for  our  shoulders  tingled  many  an  hour  there- 
after from  the  application  of  a  strip  of  leather,  wielded 
by  the  stalwart  right  arm  of  the  vindictive  man.  Now 
it  so  happened  that,  nearly  opposite  the  scene  of  this 
farce,  there  stood  a  tall  flag-staff — '  Tom  Riley's  Fifth 
Ward  liberty  pole'  it  was  called — and  with  this  pole  is 
associated,  not  only  the  moral  of  my  story,  but  also  one 
of  the  most  singular  experiences  ever  undergone  by  a 
human  soul,  while  incarnated  in  a  tabernacle  of  flesh 
and  blood,  nerve  and  sinew,  muscle  and  matter.  After 
mutually  smarting  from  the  application  of  the  cobbler's 
'  welt,'  we  took  counsel  and  refuge  beneath  the  liberty 
pole  aforesaid  ;  and  the  last  I  remember  of  the  affair  is, 
that,  while  gazing  upon  his  triumphantlv  retreating 
4 


74  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

figure,  it  struck  me  that  the  very  quintessence  of  my 
felicity  on  earth  would  be  achieved  could  I  have  the 
exquisite  joy  and  unsurpassable  pleasure  of  hanging 
him  to  the  weathercock  on  the  summit  of  that  flag-staff. 
This  would  be  to  me — to  us,  a  very  heavenly  state  in- 
deed. And  so  I  hung  him,  in  fancy,  to  the  north  cor  - 
ner  of  the  vane,  enjoyed  his  imaginary  struggles  for  a 
while,  and  then  went  home.  *  *  *  *  *  *  Years 
passed.  My  childhood's  troubles  were  forgotten,  and 
man's  estate  had  come,  with  all  its  griefs,  cares  and 
strifes,  and,  from  a  student  of  revenge,  I  became  one  of 
the  science  of  Forgiveness.  During  one  of  these  latter 
years  I  became  interested  in  the  question,  '  Has  man  a 
death-surviving  soul,  or  not  ?'  and  to  the  solution  of  this 
great  problem  I  bent  the  entire  force  and  energy  of  my 
mind,  not  hesitating  to  make  all  sorts  of  experiments 
that  held  out  a  hope  or  possibility  of  my  reaching  a  defi- 
nite conclusion  in  regard  to  the  subject.  In  pursuance 
of  this  grand  object  I  one  day  made  an  experiment 
which,  in  some  respects,  was  but  too  successful ;  it  was 
not  by  means  of  drugs  or  potions,  magnetism  or  spiritual 
circles.  At  the  end  of  one  of  these  experiments  I  became 
totally  lost  to  the  external  world,  its  surroundings  and 
influences,  and  found  myself  in  the  world  of  Spirit — in  the 
midst  of  a  vast  and  boundless  Chaos,  in  which  no  sound 
struck  upon  me  save  the  rattling  of  the  bones  of  a  huge 
and  ghastly  skeleton  which  swayed  and  swung  to  and 
fro  in  the  bleak  air.from  the  point  of  a  vane  on  the  top 
of  a  vast  pole,  itself  the  very  spectre  of  the  one  on  which 
mentally,  I  had  hung  my  mortal  foe. 

Attracted  irresistibly  by  the  ominous  sounds,  I  turned 
my  gaze  toward  it,  when  instantly  the  horrible,  ghastly 


DEALINGS,  WITH  THE  DEAD.  75 

thing  became  endowed  with  life  and  speech — ventri- 
loquial  power  of  speech — and  it  shrieked  into  my  startled 
ears  these  terrible,  these  ominous  words  :  '  Wretch,  look 
upon  the  work  of  thy  hands !  Here  didst  thou  place 
me  in  the  years  now  gone,  and  here  have  I  hung  and 
swung  ;  here  must  I  hang  and  swing  during  many  and 
many  a  coming  age !  Gaze  upon  this  cord — look  on  it ; 
think  of  it — placed  around  my  neck  by  you — by  you  ! 
The  flesh  once  with  these  bones  which  now  rattle  in 
your  ears  —  your  ears !  —  has,  by  the  elements,  been 
changed  and  dissolved  into  atoms — do  you  hear  ? — into 
atoms  finer  than  the  flecks  of  light  in  a  sunbeam — aye, 
finer  than  the  scintillations  of  yonder  star,  the  point  of 
the  buckle  of  Orion's  belt ;  and  that  star  is  an  eye,  and 
it  watches  you — watches  you  ;  and,  as  you  see,  is  the 
only  one  in  your  horizon  from  zenith  to  nadir.  That 
star  is  the  sentinel  appointed  by  Him  to  see  to  it  that 
you  escape  not  the  doom — the  doom  !  Ha  !  ha  !  ho  ! 
ho  !  Yes,  it  was  I — i"  who  burnt  your  ball,  in  revenge 
for  which  you  burnt  your  soul ! — you  burnt  your  soul  1 
Ha  !  ha  !  ho  !  ho  !  And  that  soul  must  burn,  and  keep 
on  burning,  in  its  own  self-kindled  flames,  until  their 
fiery  tongues  shall  have  licked  your  joints — jour  joints, 
your  marrow — your  very  marrow,  and  keep  licking 
them  until — ' 

1  In  God's  name,  what  and  when  V  I  tremblingly  in- 
quired. And  from  between  the  chattering,  clattering, 
horrible  jaws  of  that  ghastly  thing  there  hissed  back 
this  answer  :  '  Atom  by  atom,  the  elements  whereof  my 
body  was  formed  shall  once  again  cleave  to  these  bare 
bones ;  and,  of  their  own  volition,  persuaded  thereto  by 
the  spectacle  of  thy  agony,  softened  by  thy  prayers, 


76  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

T^uit  their  gambols  in  space,  their  festive  sport  amongst 
the  star-beams,  and  re-arrange  themselves  into  the  origi- 
nal flesh,  and  blood,  and  nerve,  and  cartilage,  and  lymph, 
and  muscle,  "wherewith  these  bones  were  clothed  once 
upon  a  time  in  the  dead  years  of  an  infinite  Past!' 
1  But/  I  cried,  as  the  sweat  of  agony  seemed  to  ooze  even 
out  of  my  spectral  cheeks,  '  there  must  be  some  mistake. 
The  crime  imputed  was  never  committed  by  me.  I 
never  slew  you,  nor  any  one  else.  True,  I  remember 
you,  but  I  only' — -  Wished  and  willed  to  do  it  \J  shrieked 
my  tormentor,  from  the  gibbet ;  '  and  whatever  the  soul 
strongly  wills  is  done,  so  far  as  human  responsibility  is 
concerned.  You  wished  and  willed  me  to  be  here  ;  and 
here  I  am,  by  virtue  of  a  great  and  mighty  law.  Hast  thou 
not  heard  the  law  laid  down,  by  the  sufferer  of  Calvary, 
"  Whoso  looketh  on  a  woman  to  lust  after  her,  hath  al- 
ready committed  adultery  in  his  heart,"  and  must  pay  the 
penalty  therefor  ?  And  thinkest  thou  that  this  is  the 
only  application  of  the  great  law  of  justice  and  com- 
pensation ?  Fool !  know  that  thy  crime  is  just  as  great 
as  if  thou  hadst,  with  thine  own  fingers,  put  the  cord  of 
murder  about  my  neck— about  my  neck  !  The  crime- 
thought  is  as  great  as  the  crime-act.  So  it  is  with  thee, 
thou  murderer !  Man  is  judged  from  the  desires  and 
motives  of  his  heart,  whether  these  be  for  good  or  ill, 
and  never  from  or  for  his  act  alone  ;  for  the  reason  that 
actions  are  often  the  result  of  an  instantaneous  impulse, 
external  pressure  and  circumstance  ;  but  motives  are 
the  creatures  of  will,  the  perfect  offspring  of  desire !; 
I  groaned  in  agony,  an  agony  so  great  that  it  burst  the 
bonds  of  sleep,  and  I  awoke  from  that  which  was  not 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  77 

all  a  dream.  It  was  an  awful  lesson,  and  taught  me 
how  to  become  a  wiser  and  a  better  man.'* 

Such  was  the  terrific  experience  of  my  friend,  and  I 
feel  that  I  need  say  no  more  on  a  point  so  well,  so  very 
forcibly  illustrated.         *         *         *        *      '*        * 

Still  the  phantorama  glided  past  upon  the  wall,  re- 
vealing many  a  new  mystery,  and  showing  me  that 
every  human  being  is  more  or  less  responsible  for  the 
result  of  personal  influence  exerted  upon  others. 

Much  rare  and  valuable  knowledge  flowed  in  while  I 
stood  there,  in  the  center  of  the  magic  sphere,  gazing  on 
the  second  vivorama,  or  living  picture,  delineating  the 
results  of  my  influence  on  others.  Many  and  many  a 
strange  scene  passed  athwart  that  globe's  interior  ;  and 
I  saw  not  only  what  the  result  of  my  influence  had  been, 
but  also  what  would  have  resulted  had  my  action,  in  a 
given  instance,  been  different  from  what  it  really  was. 
Thus,  I  saw  that  had  a  cross  word  been  spoken  to  a 
child,  whom  I  had  endeavored  to  soothe  by  kindness, 
that  child  would  have  been  led  to  restrain  himself,  in- 
stead of,  as  happened,  taking  advantage,  and  attributing 
my  complaisance  to  fear  or  something  akin  thereto.  I 
saw,  on  that  mystic  scroll,  the  simulacra?  of  every  per- 
son I  had  ever  known,  and  found  that  there,  in  t&e  Soul- 
world,  people  and  things  passed  at  their  true,  and  by 
no  means  at  a  fictitious  value,  like  men  and  money  do 
on  the  earth.     All  mankind  are  divisible  into  seven 


*  This  fearful  apocalyptic  vision  occurred  on  the  night  of  Feb.  3d, 
1861,  and  was  the  means  of  inducing  a  train  of  thought  and  feel- 
ing in  the  mind  of  the  person  who  experienced  it,  which  resulted  in 
his  conversion  from  all  sorts  of  philosophism  to  a  belief  in  the  pure 
and  sweet  religion  of  Christ  the  Saviour. — Pub. 


78  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

great  Orders,  to  each,  of  which  there  are  three  sub-or- 
ders or  classes.  I  shall  speak  of  the  Orders,  Dot  of  the 
classes.  Many  of  those  who,  when  living  amongst 
them,  I  had  ranked  with  the  highest,  I  now  found,  in 
this  place,  where  the  secrets  of  all  hearts  are  in  very 
deed  laid  open,  really  belonged  to  a  far  lower  plane, 
and,  vice  versa  ;  for  many  a  civilizee  and  aristocrat  was 
now  found  to  belong  to  the  order  of  barbarians ;  whereas 
not  a  few  of  those  usually  considered  low  were  seen  to 
be  better  unfolded  than  thousands  with  loftier  preten- 
sions. Will  it  be  credited,  I  even  found  the  purest  vir- 
tue in  one  whose  occupation  was  harlotry  !  Once  upon 
a  time,  long  before  I  passed  through  death's  cold  river, 
I  was  walking  through  a  beautiful  grove,  hard  by  my 
dwelling-place,  the  house  upon  the  hill.  It  was  a  gala 
day,  and  hundreds  had  gathered  there  to  celebrate  the 
noon  of  summer.  Mirth,  gaiety  and  sport  ruled  the 
hour,  and  my  soul  was  very  glad. 

Amongst  the  rest  who  had  gathered  there,  were  seve- 
ral females,  whose  trade  was  Sin,  and  who  I  supposed 
came  there  for  their  horrid  purpose.  How  mistaken 
was  I !  At  that  time  it  did  not  strike  me  that  beings  so 
lost  could  have  a  pure  thought,  or  in  any  way  be  tempted 
to  quit  the  hot  pavements  of  the  city  to  spend  an  hour 
in  God's  great  Temple,  amidst  its  living  columns — the 
stately  forest  trees — without  mischief  and  wrong-doing 
in  view.  I  looked  upon  them,  especially  her  with  the 
pale  thin  lips  and  large  drooping  eyelids,  with  utter 
loathing.  And  thus  I  passed  them  by  ;  years  fled  ; 
never  again  did  I  think  of  them — much  less  that  such 
creatures  could  have  aught  of  goodness  in  them,  or  feel 
the  need  of  God's  sunshine,  or  of  a  bath  in  His  pure 


DEALINGS   WITH   THE   DEAD.  9 

ocean  of  fresh  air.  In  life  they  were  forgotten,  bu 
now,  as  that  mystic  diorama  moved  forward,  I  saw  that 
very  scene  in  the  grove,  reproduced  in  every  minute 
detail.  There  sat  the  courtezans — there  walked  I  past 
them  ;  and  as  she  of  the  large  blue  eye  looked  up  to- 
ward me,  with  a  mute  demand  for  one  sympathetic 
glance — one  kind  word — only  one  kind  word — I  turned 
heedlessly  away  ;  and  in  doing  so,  I  now  saw  that  a 
wrong  thing  had  taken  place  ;  for  had  I  spoken  kindly, 
they  might  have  been  saved  from  ruin,  so  far  as  the 
world  is  concerned — utter  and  complete.  Then,  when 
it  was,  alas !  too  late,  I  saw  how  very  easily  I  might 
have  melted  and  won  the  heart  of  the  woman  with  the 
thin  pale  cheek,  and  she  would  have  become  a  minister- 
ing spirit  for  good  to  many  and  many  a  lost  and  de- 
graded one.  I  now  saw  her  antecedents — a  young  girl, 
a  tender,  loving  daughter — fair,  beautiful  and  sensitive 
to  the  last  degree.  In  her  home  misery  reigned — no 
work  for  the  father,  no  bread  for  her  little  sisters,  a 
sick  mother,  and  the  storms  of  winter  howling  in  the 
streets,  and  the  cold  wind,  sleet-laden,  searching  for 
nooks  and  crannies,  that  it  might  freeze  the  little  hands 
and  make  the  pale  lips  blue. 

And  then  father  took  to  drinking,  and  the  pampered 
servants  of  the  rich  lordlings  of  the  great  city  drove 
her  with  the  large  blue  eye  from  their  doors  ;  andjshe 
was  hungry,  very  hungry  ;  and  then  the  foul  fiend 
tempted  her  to  accept  a  handful  of  silver  from — a  male  ! 
for  Men  never  do  such  things — things  so  infernal,  so 
hideous,  so  ineffably  mean — in  exchange  for  her  body  ! 
•*  *  *  *  j^-ftft  so  s]ie  gQJd  ^ — again,  and  again,  and 
a^ain  !    Great  God !  she  was  obliged  to  sell  it,  or  starve 


80  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

in  the  midst  of  the  granaries  of  Plenty !  Starve  her- 
self ?  Yes,  but  not  only  herself— that  were  easy — but 
the  mother  who  bore  her,  in  agony — the  father,  whose 
reason  had  for  a  time  deserted  its  throne — the  little 
ones,  clustering  about  the  scanty  fire  in  the  little  tin 
stove  ;  these,  all  these,  must  eat  or  die  !  "  The  Poor- 
house  I"  A  poor  refuge  indeed  !  for  although  they  may 
have  been  better  off  therein,  would  she  ?  Doubtful ! 
for — well,  never  mind  what !  She  sold  herself  for 
bread  ! 

Presently  work  came,  but  the  stain  was  on  her.  She 
had  run  down  a  declivity  so  steep  that  she  could  never 
clamber  up  again,  unless  some  friendly  hand  be  stretched 
forth  to  help  her.  And  such  hands  are  very  scarce. 
And  now  I  saw  what  good  might  have  been  done,  in 
the  days  gone  by,  had  I  "  only  thought." 

This  scene  passed  across  the  walls  of  my  sphere  ;  and 
then  there  came  after  it  a  large  blank  space,  and  this 
taught  me  that  it  indicated  that  some  where  in  my  life 
there  had  been  a  corresponding  omission.  "  What  can 
it  have  been?"  Scarce  had  this  query  been  framed 
than  there  appeared  a  picture,  which  need  not  be  de- 
scribed, but  the  sum  of  whose  teachings  may  briefly  be 
stated  thus  :  I  had  never  married — had  never  been 
hailed  by  the  dear  titles  ';  Wife  "  and  "  Mother."  I 
had  therefore  failed  in  the  one  supreme  womanly  duty. 
Nor  can  any  soul  be  fully  filled  with  joy  who  neglects 
those  great  commands  of  God  and  Nature.  Children  are 
the  crowns  of  Heaven ;  nor  can  any  one — man  or 
woman — taste  the  serener  and  the  sweeter  joys  of  Be- 
ing, who  has  failed  to  love  and  be  loved,  wed  and  be 
wedded  ;  for  this  is  one  and  the  chiefest  of  means 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  81 

whereby  the  soul  becomes  mellowed,  and  fit  for  higher 
uses  in  the  Soul-home.  For  these  reasons,  my  joys, 
though  great,  were  not  equal  to  what  they  might  have 
been  ;  and  yet,  take  it  all  in  all,  provided  the  entrance 
into  the  upper  land  is  made  with  a  clear  and  healthy 
conscience  and  a  fair  record  be  left  behind,  no  sense  of 
clearness,  lightness  and  joy  can  equal  that  which  is  ex- 
perienced subsequent  to  the  first  awakening  after  Az- 
rael's  decree  has  severed  the  marriage  between  matter 
and  soul.  The  Senses  !  Roses  emit  sweet  odors, grateful 
to  the  nostrils  ;  yet  not  all  the  perfumes  of  the  Gulistan 
is  worth  one  inhalation  of  the  celestial  aroma  in  which  the 
spirit  of  the  good  man  or  woman  floats  when  once  fairly 
over  the  barriers  which  separate  the  worlds.  Color ! 
I  never  knew  the  music  of  hues  before  I  passed  away — 
never  conceived  of  the  sublime  mysteries,  nor  realized  the 
great  glory  whose  temple  is  the  chalice  of  a  flower. 
Touch  !  Ah,  what  language,  what  pen,  what  tongue 
can  describe  the  deep  raptures  of  a  soul,  when  God's 
sublime  atmosphere  first  laves  the  immortal  being  !  The 
highest,  keenest  nerve-joy  the  body  can  experience  must 
be  very,  very  dull  and  tame  in  comparison  ;  and  so  on 
through  the  Sense-gamuts  of  Earth  and  the  hyper  ones 
of  Spirit.  Yet  only  the  good  enjoy  these  pleasures. 
Sin  and  pollution,  whether  of  thought  or  overt  act,  de- 
tract from  the  senses  and  susceptibility  to  pleasure  in 
both  worlds  alike  ;  and  so  absolutely  true  is  this,  that 
sin  and  folly  ought  to  be  shunned  by  the  people,  if  for 
no  other  than  the  selfish  desire  of  being  happy  from 
oneself.  It  is  better  to  live  right,  die  right,  and  be 
right  after  death,  than  it  is  to  purchase  transient  pleas- 
ures on  earth  by  drawing  too  largely  on  the  bank  of  life, 


82  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

to  find  one's  drafts  dishonored  at  the  counters  of  the 
world  above.  Suicides  and  voluptuaries  are  on  an 
equality  up  there.  Both  are  only  half-men,  half-child- 
ren, half-women  ;  nor  can  they  taste  of  the  higher  rap- 
tures, unless  they  grow  to  holiness. 

After  a  while  there  ceased  to  be  any  more  pictures, 
and  I  became  aware  of  the  fact  that  an  unseen  force  was 
at  work  on  the  outside  of  the  globe,  evidently  endeavor- 
ing to  break  it  down,  or  in  some  way  force  a  passage 
through  its  walls.  What  this  something  could  be,  was 
a  mystery,  just  so  long  as  I  vehemently  desired  to  know, 
which  of  course  I,  like  others  under  similar  circum- 
stances, did.  I  could  not,  while  thus  endeavoring,  ob- 
tain my  desire,  and  therefore  I  naturally  began  to  wish 
that  Nellie  or  the  old  man  would  come,  because,  in 
spite  of  my  matchless  surroundings,  I  felt  quite  human* 
in  the  midst  of  Spirituality,  and  the  sight  even  of  an- 
other than  myself  would  have  been  a  solace  and  a  conso- 
lation. No  sooner  had  my  mind  placed  itself  upon  a 
new  object,  than  I  made  two  new  and  important  dis- 
coveries :  First,  that  loneliness  or  solitude  is  one  of 
the  most  terrible  punishments  to  which  either  God  or 
man  could  ever  possibly  condemn  a  sinful  human  being. 
God  pity  the  lonely  man  or  woman  !  0,  it  is  very 
dreadful  to  be  compelled  to  exist  alone  ! — and  there  are 
thousands  who  walk  the  great  world's  streets,  who  move 
along  in  the  very  midst  of  a  Solitude,  as  deep,  silent 
and  fearful  as  that  which  prevails  in  Zahara's  desert 
wastes,  where  human  footfalls  never  disturb  the  awful 
stillness  of  the  hour.  There  are  those  who  travel  up 
and  down  the  world's  highways,  upon  whose  soul  no 
glad  pounds  ever  fall,  and  who  appear  to  be  condemned 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  83 

to  loneliness,  as  if  they  were  thus  expiating*  some  awful 
penalty  as  an  atonement  for  great  and  undreamed-of 
crimes,  committed  either  by  themselves  in  some  pre- 
existent  state,  or  by  their  ancestors  when  the  very  world 
was  young.  There  are  those  who,  while  all  about  and 
around  them  are  merry  and  jocund  as  the  bees  on  a 
May  day,  are  themselves  as  far  removed  from  the  pale 
of  human  sympathy,  and  as  utterly  Alone,  as  if  they 
were  shut  up  in  some  rock-ribbed  cave  in  the  heart  of 
Mont  Blanc  or  the  Mountains  of  the  Moon.  0,  it  is  a 
fearful  thing  to  be  shut  out  from  the  great  Sympathia 
whose  function  is  to  blend  in  one  the  chords  of  all  human 
hearts !  It  is  a  sad  fate  indeed  to  be  obliged  to  live 
amidst  the  clamor  and  the  clang  of  Discord,  when  all 
other  souls  are  dancing  to  the  glorious  sounds  of  the 
great  Harmonead  ;  yet  many  such,  aye,  far  too  many 
such  there  be,  who  are  thus  cut  off,  shut  up,  barred  out. 
They  might  have  been  let  in,  had  the  father  given  the 
mother  a  smile,  a  caress,  a  blessing,  at  the  proper  mo- 
ment, instead  of  a  frown,  a  rudeness  and  a  secret  curse, 
as  is,  alas  !  too  often  the  case  ;  and  yet  nothing  is  more 
positively  certain  than  that  somebody  must  answer  to 
their  own  souls,  their  own  consciences,  for  this  most  fear- 
ful entailment  of  misery,  loneliness  and  woe.  See  !  yon 
der  is  a  woman — a  wife — big  with  a  man-child,  who  will 
ere  long  see  the  light ;  but  she  is  miserable — is  lonely, 
is  perchance  cursed  for  becoming — a  mother  ;  and  so 
she  frets,  and  mopes,  and  pines — all  the  while  paining 
to  be  delivered  of  her  misery  and  child.  At  length  it 
sees  the  day,  the  sun's  bright  laugh  meets  no  responsive 
smile  from  its  pale,  thin,  tiny  lips.  It  mopes  and  grows, 
but  is  prematurely  old  at  ten  years,  a  man  at  fifteen,  a 


84  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

mournful  pilgrim  at  twenty-five,  and  an  old  veteran  at 
thirty  years  !  Who's  to  blame  ?  Somebody !  else  God's 
justice  is,  like  man's,  a  mockery  ! 

Brother  or  sister,  who  readest  these  pages,  wouldst 
thou  know  one  of  the  grand  secrets  underlying  the  con- 
stitution of  the  great  Brotherhood  of  Crime  ?  It  is 
because  man  is  a  social  being,  has  a  mortal  and  invin- 
cible hatred  and  repugnance  to  solitude,  feels  the  need 
of  associates  and  sympathy,  and  will  have  both  if  possi- 
ble, even  though  obliged  to  seek  them  in  the  very  midst 
of  hell  itself.  Didst  thou  ever  observe  that  the  major- 
ity, of  spiritual  mediums  are  men  and  women  who  are 
sensitive,  lonely,  bereft  and  forsaken  ?  Well,  look 
around,  and  thou  shalt  find  it  so.  And  these,  failing  to 
find  sympathy  on  earth  amidst  their  fellows,  search  for 
it  in  the  awful  labyrinths  that  underlie  the  tomb  ;  and 
from  the  Middle  States  vast  hordes  of  semi-infernals 
come  trooping  at  the  heart-calls  of  these  wretched  ones, 
who  are  thus  preyed  on  by  vampires  from  both  Eternity 
and  Time  ;  for  embodied  wonder-mongers  sap  them  dry, 
and  wear  them  out,  while  disembodied  demi-devils  de- 
lude them,  until  the  fair  Soul-garden  either  becomes  an 
arid  waste,  or  teems  with  thistles,  thorns,  and  all  un- 
sightly and  unseemly  things.  When  such  victims  cry 
aloud  unto  God,  and  keep  crying,  He  will  send  His 
good  angels  to  comfort,  save,  cheer  and  protect. 

Reader,  wouldst  thou  know  why  millions  of  women, 
fair,  loveable,  and  good  as  ever  God's  sun  shone  upon, 
yearly  rush  down  the  mountain's  side  and  plunge  neck- 
deep  into  the  swamps  of  prostitution  and  infamy  ?  It 
is  because  their  human  hearts  yearn  for  sympathy,  pine 
for  love,  long  for  something  good  and  kind  ;  which  fail- 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  85 

ing  to  discover  and  obtain  where  hope  has  told  them 
snch  things  were,  they  seek  for  it,  at  last,  in  the  horrid 
belly  of  social  damnation.  Their  motto,  '  A  short  life 
and  a  merry  is  better  than  a  long  and  lonely  one  ! '  teUs 
too  truly  the  story  of  many  a  poor  girl's  heart.  My 
God,  my  God,  have  mercy  on  the  lonely  ones  !  for  thou 
alone  knowest  that  many  and  many  a  sin  against  soci- 
ety and  thee  is  committed  by  such  and  others,  not  of 
settled  purpose  of  ill-doing,  but  because  urged  on  by 
sheer  despair.  Many  a  crime  has  been  committed  from 
a  mental  aberration  caused  by  the  horrors  of  loneliness. 
Human  tribunals  take  but  little,  if  any,  account  of  a 
criminal's  antecedents  and  surroundings.  He  or  she  is 
judged  too  harshly,  in  the  main  ;  and  thus  it  will  be 
until  mankind  learns  a  deeper  lesson  of  wisdom  than 
yet  presides  over  its  courts  and  councils.  Only  God 
can  truly  know  a  heart ;  and  whilst  this  fact  is  so 
clear,  it  is  better  to  err  on  charity's  side,  if  error  must 
enter  into  the  account  at  all. 

In  prison  there  is  at  least  a  community  of  punish- 
ment, and  the  sense  of  this  goes  far  to  relieve  the  tedi- 
um of  incarceration  ;  for,  bad  though  it  be,  many  a  one 
has  found  it  preferable  to  the  perpetual  and  dreadful 
solitude  to  which  liberty  condemned  them. 

Why  are  there  such  vast  numbers  of  deserted  wives 
and  husbands  ? — so  many  ruined  and  cheerless  hearths 
and  homes  ?  The  answer  is  :  because  neither  of  the 
heads  of  the  household  has  even  dreamed  that  the  com- 
panion had  rights  which  the  other  was  bound  to  re- 
spect ;  and  the  greatest  of  these  rights,  and  the  one 
most  disregarded,  is  the  right  of  being  loved  by  that 
other — loved  tenderly,   truly,  kindly,  humanly.    ,  The 


86  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

parties  to  the  domestic  compact  have  severally  failed  to 
realize  what  common  sense  ought  to  have  suggested 
from  the  first — that  human  happiness  is  never  direct, 
but  is  always  reflected.  When  the  married  find  out 
this  great  law,  and  practically  apply  it,  society  will 
redeem  itself  from  all  hatred  and  harlotry,  license  and 
libertinism,  free-love  and  folly,  madness,  murder  and 
meanness..  Ah  !  friendly  reader,  it  is  a  Tearful  state, 
that  wherein  a  woman's  or  a  man's  true  and  generous 
love  and  sympathies  are  driven  down  and  beaten  away 
by  those  to  whom  they  naturally  cling.  It  is  hard  to 
have  their  human  kindness  misconstrued,  and  to  have 
his  or  her  affection  crushed  by  the  heedlessness  or  lack 
of  generosity  of  those  who  ought  to  leap,  and  hail  it 
with  all  true  human  thankfulness.  God  knows  that 
there  is  too  little  real  affection  in  the  world,  and  it  is 
very  hard  to  have  that  little  forced  back  upon  the  full, 
true  heart  from  which  it  was  sent  forth  on  a  mission  of 
goodness.  This  sort  of  thing  it  is  that  freezes  up  the 
spirit,  and  makes  man  and  woman  lonely  hermits  in  the 
very  midst  of  the  teeming  hives  of  human  life,  society 
and  effort. 

It  is  a  terrible  thing  to  be  compelled  to  eat  your 
own  heart— to  be  forced  to  consume  oneself— to  hear 
the  harsh,  brutal  and  unfeeling  tone,  when  one  should 
listen  to  the  dulcet  notes  of  generous  affections  ;  for 
they  freeze  and  chill  the  spirit,  and  warp  the  very  lig- 
aments of  Soul.  These  sad  things  must  be  atoned  ; 
the  vicarious  sacrifice  must  be  self-made  by  the  doer 
thereof  —  persons  who  unthinkingly  tear  down  and 
wreck  their  fellows,  every  soul  of  whom  might  be 
builded  up.  made  strong  for  the  Right,  and  emulous  of 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  87 

all  great  and  good  and  noble  thoughts  and  deeds  which 
God's  human  children  have  ever  done — and  all  by  kind- 
ness, open-hearted  conduct  and  friendly  cheer.  Heaven! 
how  much  misery  and  crime  might  be  stayed  by  one 
kind  and  loving  word  !  How  many  are  at  this  day 
wading  through  Perdition,  as  they  tread  the  pavements 
of  the  world's  broad  streets,  and  all  for  want  of  one 
kind  word  !     Wrote  Milton  : 


Devil  with  devils  damned 


Firm  concord  hold.    Men  only  disagree." 

There  is  much  pith  in  this  couplet,  which  is  far  from 
being  all  poetry — that  is,  if  a  judgment  must  be  predi- 
cated upon  what  the  worlds  have  witnessed  of  warfare, 
robbery,  slaughter,  and  rapine,  all  along  the  track  of 
ages.  Earth  is,  then,  something  worse  than  hell  itself ! 
It  ought  to  be  better,  for  hell  cannot  be  purged  nor  the 
Middle  State  become  pure,  until  earth  is  purified,  and 
the  daily  delegations  sent  across  the  dark  River  be  of  a 
better,  purer  and  nobler  mould  than  now. 

I  remember  to  have  dearly  loved  the  Apostles'  Creed, 
especially  my  own  rendering  thereof : 

':  I  believe  in  the  Holy  Ghost ;  the  Holy  Church ;  .  . 

...  the  forgiveness  of  sins ;  the  resurrection the 

communion  of  saints  ;  the  life  everlasting."  Glorious 
creed  of  glorious  fishermen — repeated  daily  by  millions ! 
But  do  these  millions  really  believe  the  words  so  freely 
spoken  ?  Go  ask  their  conduct  in  the  world's  busy 
market  places,  where  human  bodies  and  human  souls 
are  as  so  many  counters  in  the  scale, — not  negro 
bodies  and  souls,  but  those  of  lordly  bankers,  and  mo- 
nied  magnates,  who  serve  as  waiters  in  Moloch's  tern- 


88  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

pies  on  the  four  shores  of  the  two  great  seas.     Pity  it  is 
that  people  do  not  believe  their  own  religious  creeds, 
for  if  they  did  there  would  be  fewer  lonely  ones  on 
either  side  of  the  grave. 
Sung  a  poet,  quite  as  good,  if  not  so  great  as  Milton : 

If  men  cared  less  for  wealth  and  fame, 

And  less  for  battle-fields  of  glory  ; 
If  writ  ia  human  hearts,  a  name 

Seemed  better  than  in  song  or  story : 
If  men,  instead  of  nursing  pride, 

Would  learn  to  hate  it  and  abhor  it ; 
If  more  relied  on  Love  to  guide, 

The  world  would  be  the  better  for  it. 

If  men  dealt  less  in  stocks  and  lands, 

And  more  in  bonds  and  deeds  fraternal ; 
If  Love's  work  had  more  willing  hands 

To  link  this  world  to  the  Supernal ; 
If  men  stored  up  love's  oil  and  wine, 

And  on  bruised  human  hearts  would  pour  it, 
If  "  yours  "  and  "  mine  "  would  once  combine, 

The  world  would  be  the  better  for  it. 

If  more  would  act  the  play  of  Life, 

And  fewer  spoil  it  by  rehearsal ; 
If  bigotry  would  sheathe  its  knife, 

Till  good  became  more  universal : 
If  Custom  gray  with  ages  grown, 

Had  fewer.blind  men  to  adore  it : 
If  talent  shone  in  truth  alone, 

The  world  would  be  the  better  for  it. 

If  men  were  wise  in  little  things, 

Affecting  less  in  all  their  dealings ; 
If  hearts  had  fewer  rusted  strings, 

To  violate  their  kindly  feelings  : 
If  men,  when  Wrong  beats  down  the  Right, 

Would  strike  together  and  restore  it : 
If  Right  made  Rightln^every  fight, 

The  world  would  be  the  better  for  it. 


DEALINGS   WITH  THE   DEAD. 

Ay.e !  that  it  would,  and  tvill,  brave  lover  of  thy  race, 
when  more  shall  live  the  spirit  thou  hast  breathed.  But 
Faith  is  not  yet  dead  ;  Hope  still  lives  in  human  hearts ; 
Charity  is  beginning  to  be  a  power  in  the  world,  and 
these  three — blessed  three — will  yet  work  out  the  world's 
salvation.  Strong  hands,  clear  intellects,  willing  minds, 
are  all  that  is  needed  to  develope  true  human  individu- 
ality, a  thing  of  the  future  ;  and  then  a  man  and  a  wo- 
man will  pass  for  the  self-displayed  value,  the  intrinsic 
worth  manifested  by  Action.  "  It  is  not  me  they  hate 
and  ill-use  ;  it  is  the  fictitious  personality  they  have 
given  me.  They  will  not  take  me  as  I  am,  but  insist 
that  I  shall  be  what  themselves  desire  I  should  be;  and 
in  crushing,  slaying,  killing  this  phantom  which  they 
choose  to  attach  to  my  name,  they  are,  alas,  crushing, 
slaying,  killing  me  !"  These  words  were  uttered  by  an 
almost  broken-hearted  man  f  they  were  true,  and  true 
not  only  of  him,  but  of  many  a  lonely  and  sensitive  one 
beside. 

In  the  days  when  common  sense  shall  reign,  the  dis- 
eases of  the  social  body  will  be  eradicated,  and  then 
the  loneliness  of  talent  and  genius  will  be  exceptional 
to  the  rule,  instead  of  the  reverse,  as  in  these  lonesome 
latter  years.  If  men  could  but  realize  that  every  hu- 
man groan  echoes  up  through  all  the  starry  vaults,  even 
to  the  eternal  throne  itself,  they  would  not  cause  so 
many  as  they  do,  especially  when  they  discover  that 
every  one  of  these  groans  must  be  expiated  by  the 
causer  thereof.  If  men  knew  that  every  pang  endured 
by  a  human  being  on  earth,  sweeps  like  a  whirlwind  of 


*  Paschal,  R. 


90  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

agony  along  the  telegraphic  lines  of  infinite  space,  and 
that  not  a  soul  in  God's  vast  domain  but  must  feel  the 
effects  thereof  in  accordance  with  the  Great  Sympathia 
— itself  the  nervous  system  alike  of  God,  Nature,  and 
human  kind — they  would  heartily  strive  to  lessen  the 
amount,  and  banish  all  anguish  and  its  producing  cause 
from  their  midst. 

The  human  race  is  a  mighty  harp  ;  touch  one  string 
rudely,  and  all  the  others  vibrate;  and  the  finer  the 
chord,  the  more  it  responds  to  the  shock.  When  Jesus 
groaned  on  Calvary,  the  pain  of  his  body  and  soul  was 
shared  in  by  every  creature  beneath  God's  Infinite 
heaven  ;  and  the  agony  thrills  still  go  sweeping  through 
the  worlds,  and  will,  until  all  mankind  shall  go  its  way 
and  sin  no  more.  No  human  body  is  healthy  so  long 
as  a  single  atom  of  disease  lurks  between  the  granules 
of  a  bone,  or  between  the  cells  of  the  most  unimportant 
viscus  ;  neither  can  society  be  calm,  or  the  race  be 
happy  on  either  shore  of  eternity,  so  long  as  one  unholy 
man  or  woman  lives  to  mar  the  harmony,  and  be  a  dis- 
cordant note  in  the  Great  Sympathia.  Thus  we  dwell- 
ers of  the  Soul-worlds  are  impelled  to  action  in  behalf 
of  our  brethren  below,  by  the  first  and  greatest  law  of 
the  universe — self-preservation  ;  for  in  making  man 
abjure  his  errors  and  turn  toward  the  Right,  we  lay  the 
surest  and  firmest  foundation  whereon  to  erect  the  great 
Temple  of  Purity  wherein  all  alike  shall  worship  God, 
do  well,  and  think  no  evil.  The  discovery  of  this  great 
principle  of  unity,  the  acquisition  of  the  positive  know- 
ledge that  every  sensation,  painful  or  pleasant,  expe- 
rienced by  any,  even  the  most  distant,  low  and  de- 
graded of  the  species,  was  necessarily  shared  in  by  all 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  91 

the  rest,  surprised  me  greatly  ;  and  from  finding  that 
the  finest  nerved  and  most  sensitive  were  also  the  most 
unhappy,  I  was  led  to  infer  the  existence  of  a  great 
Vicarious  law,  whose  elements  were  Sympathy.  Compen- 
sation. Distribution.  True,  some  may  pass  through  life, 
and  apparently  escape  its  action — but  not  forever. 
God  has  said  substantially,  ;:  Bear  ye  one  another's  bur- 
dens f  and  borne  they  must  be.  Sensitives  bear  the 
greatest  portion  of  misery,  and  their  fate  seems  at  first 
sight  to  be  a  hard  one — a  life  all  full  of  tears,  groans 
and  sorrows  :  yet  the  law  of  Compensation  is  operative 
in  all  stages,  phases,  and  planes  of  being  : 

"  And  he  who  the  weariest  path  has  trod 
Shall  nearest  stand  to  the  throne  of  G.  1." 

There  are  seasons  when  men  and  women  of  a  certain 
mould,  without  the  least  apparent  cause,  are  plunged 
into  the  very  midst  of  the  blackest  barathrum  of  misery 
and  woe,  and  who  ten  times  a  year  pass  through  the 
body  of  a  death  too  fearful  in  its  agonies  to  be  even 
faintly  imagined  by  those  of  a  different  make-up.  They 
complain,  and  are  met  with  the  stereotyped  :  "  Fancy  I 
Hypochondrias!  Delusion!*''  Delusion,  forsooth!  Is 
that  pale  and  haggard  cheek,  that  pain-thrilled  sea  of 
nerv  -  drops  of  almost  bloody  sweat,  that  utter 

prostration  of  soul,  a  mere  delusion  ?  "Will  the  hypothe- 
f  diseased  nerves,  liver,  heart  or  stomach  account 
for  these  things?  To  the  looker-on  of  surface,  Y 
to  the  student  of  the  soul  and  its  mysteries,  No  !  There 
is  a  deeper  cause,  a  higher  power  in  operation.  Will 
theory  of  physical  di*  sconnt  for  the  instan- 

taneous plunging  of  a  man  or  woman  into  the  deepest 


92  DEALINGS  WITPI  THE  DEAD. 

anguish  who,  scarce  ten  seconds  before,  were  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  perfect  health  of  spirit,  soul  and  body  ?  Never ! 
What  means  the  terrible  weight  of  woe  which  suddenly 
leaps  upon  the  soul  of  the  sensitive  ?  Whence  comes 
this  ocean  of  mental  pain  and  half-sense  of  retribution, 
knowing  themselves  innocent  and  spotless  of  all  wrong  ? 
I  will  answer.  At  that  moment  some  one,  somewhere., 
is  undergoing  all  these  pangs  from  apparent  cause. 
The  wave  of  pain  has  gone  out,  and,  like  the  needle  to 
the  pole,  flies  directly  to  those  whose  position  on  the 
plane  of  the  great  sympathetic  nerve  of  the  universe  fits 
them  to  receive  it.  Some  one  else  receives  it  in  turn  ; 
but  it  becomes  less  intense,  degree  after  degree,  until 
at  last  only  a  faint  and  tiny  wave  reaches  the  foot  of 
the  throne* 

"  Eloi,  Eloi,  lamma  Sabbacthani !"  groaned  the  dying 
Christ  j  and  the  throes  of  his  agony  went  pulsing 
through  the  universal  human  heart,  till  the  most  ma- 
jestic prince  of  Seraphim  quailed  with  agony.  Even 
so,  still,  as  in  the  days  of  yore,  is  operative  the  same 
great  vicarious  law. 

When  the  suffering  soul  turns  itself  to  God,  relief 
comes,  but  not  an  instant  before.  This  latter  law — for 
it  is  one — was  well  known  in  ancient  times,  and  amongst 
the  higher  classes  of  the  Orient  is  so  still.  It  and  its 
operation  is  well  set  forth  by  a  modern  poet  of  Islam  : 


U  ( 


Allah,  Allah !'  cried  the  sick  man,  racked  with  pain  the  long  night 


through  5 
Till  with  prayer  his  heart  grew  tender,  till  his  lips  like  honey  grew. 
But  at  morning  came  the  Tempter  ;  said,  '  Call  louder,  child  of  Pain ! 
See  if  Allah  ever  hears,  or  answers,  '  Here  am  1,'  again." 
Like  a  stab  the  cruel  cavil  through  his  brain  and  pulses  went ; 
To  his  heart  an  icy  coldness,  to  his  brain  a  darkness  sent. 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  93 

Then  before  him  stands  Elias  ;  says, '  My  child,  why  thus  dismayed  ? 

Dost  repent  thy  former  fervor  ?    Is  thy  soul  of  prayer  afraid  ? 

1  Ah !'  he  cried, '  I've  called  so  often  ;  never  heard  the  "  Here  am  I ;" 

And  I  thought  God  will  not  pity  ;  will  not  turn  on  me  his  eye.' 

Then  the  grave  Elias  answered,  '  God  said,  Rise,  Elias  ;  go 

Speak  to  him,  the  sorely  tempted  ;  lift  him  from  his  gulf  of  woe. 

Tell  him  that  his  very  longing  is  itself  an  answering  cry  ; 

That  his  prayer,  "  Come,  gracious  Allah !"  is  my  answer,  "  Here  am  I." ' 

Every  inmost  aspiration  is  God's  angel  undefined  • 

And  in  every  '  0  my  Father !'  slumbers  deep  a  '  Here,  my  child.'  " 

I  do  not  say,  nor  did  I  discover  that  all  sensitives,  at 
all  times,  are  the  mystic  sympathants  of  those  who  suf- 
fer ;  for  such  is  not  the  case.  Much  suffering  comes  to 
them  from  other  causes  and  sources  ;  yet  that  a  great 
deal  of  mental  agony  does  come  from  the  source  stated, 
I  became  perfectly  convinced. 

The  last  twenty  years,  I  also  saw — by  the  action  of 
a  retrospective  faculty  of  my  soul,  then  discovered  and 
applied  for  the  first  time — has  been  productive  of  more 
misery  than  any  period  of  equal  length  since  the  world 
began :  for  the  reason,  among  others,  that  the  people's 
nerves  and  brains  are  keener,  fuller,  quicker  in  action, 
and  more  alive  to  sensations  than  in  the  years  prece- 
dent. The  mental  and  physical  culture  of  the  people  has 
been  such,  that  not  one  civilizee  in  five  thousand  en- 
joys good  health  in  either  department  of  common  hu- 
man nature.  Much  of  the  misery  extant  in  the  world 
to-day  is  solely  attributable  to  the  extraordinary  sensi- 
tiveness now  characterizing  such  vast  numbers  of  peo- 
ple ;  and  which  morbid  condition — for  there  are  two 
kinds  of  sensitives,  the  natural  and  the  hot-house 
growths,  the  last  of  which  I  now  allude  to — owes  its 
origin  to — First,  A  general  overworking  of  the  brain, 


94  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

to  the  total  neglect  of  the  muscular  system.  Second,  Im- 
proper diet,  in  time,  kind  and  quantity.  Third,  Heed- 
lessness in  clothing,  in  reference  to  color,  texture  and 
amount;  carelessness  in  regard  to  heat,  light,  cold, 
sleep,  and  physical  magnetico-electrical  influences. 
Fourth,  Personal  magnetic  influences.  Fifth,  The 
metaphysical  nature  of  modern  thought  and  study. 
Sixth,  Irregularity  and  excess,  extending  to  all  things 
connected  with  human  existence,  by  reason  of  which 
the  funds  in  the  bank  of  life  are  exhausted  at  the  very 
time  they  ought  to  be  most  plentiful.  Seventh,  Mod- 
ern Spiritualism,  which,  by  reason  of  its  intensity,  at- 
tracts and  absorbs  nearly  all  human  attention,  to  the 
exclusion  of  every  thing  else  ;  causes  people  to  ex- 
change common  sense  for  '  philosophies'  not  half  so  use- 
ful ;  induces  a  sort  of  intellectual  fever ;  lifts  a  man  above 
the  earth  ;  makes  him  forgetful  of  his  body,  by  holding 
up  his  spirit  to  his  view ;  promises  to  set  his  feet  on  solid 
rock,  and  ends  by,  as  it  should,  throwing  out  the  fac- 
titious props  and  stilts  whereon  he  has  stood  to  catch 
glimpses  of  what  lies  on  the  other  side,  and  letting  him 
fall  back  upon  his  own  resources  finally. 

All  these  things,  the  last  included,  previous  to  its 
ultimate  effect,  have,  by  inducing  morbidness  of  thought 
and  sentiment,  principle  and  feeling,  unfitted  man  to 
either  live  or  die.  The  result  has  been,  the  develop- 
ment of  a  sensitiveness  so  acute,  that  persons  are  en- 
abled to  penetrate  the  surface  of  both  things  and  peo- 
ple, and  the  result  of  this  involuntary  inspection  is  the 
discovery  that  there  is  many  a  rotten  spot  in  the  fair- 
est-looking fruit — many  an  unworthy  motive  underly- 
ing the  fairest  pretence— nothing  but  duplicity  where 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  95 

friendship  was  thought  to  dwell— lust  and  passion,  un- 
der the  guise  of  esteem  and  love — and  many  more  such 
tmveilings  of  the  seeming,  and  disclosures  of  the  real. 
This  sensitiveness  is  morbid,  but  its  revelation's  are, 
alas !  quite  frequently  too  true  ;  and  the  effect  it  pro- 
duces is  an  inveterate  suspicion  of  all  things  and  peo 
pie,  and  an  utter  loss  of  confidence  in  the  entire  human 
race.  This  is  the  hidden  reason  why  a  certain  order  of 
those  who  call  themselves  Spiritualists  are  so  unhappy 
and  discontented  ;  and  it  is  this  also  that  has  suggested 
the  ten  thousand  and  ten  panaceas  for  all  the  ills  of 
life  now  so  freely  scattered  up  and  down  the  walks  of 
the  social  world.  To  this  cause  is  to  be  attributed  the 
thousand  mad  Quixotic  schemes  for  rejuvenating  the 
world — from  'Free-love'  to  'Angel-movements,'  'Wo- 
man's Rights'  to  'Land  Reform.'  This  it  is  that  sepa- 
rates people — engulphs  thousands  in  the  sea  of  idle  and 
useless  speculation — entangles  thousands  more  in  the 
meshes  of  sophistry,  under  the  name  of  'Philosophy' — 
wise  and  otherwise,  "Harmonial'  and  Harm-only; 
and  this  it  is  that  makes  people  lonely,  and  throngs  the 
ways  of  Earth  and  Spirit-land  with  pilgrims  of  Soli- 
tude, surrounded  by  millions. 

It  is  never  your  boisterous,  jolly,  rubicund  subject 
who  reaches  the  penetralia  of  things,  and  who  thence- 
forth casts  off  the  world  in  despair,  declares  the  play 
of  life  is  only  a  dismal  tragedy,  and  becomes  at  heart 
a  hermit  of  the  misanthropic  order.  0  no  !  far  from 
it !  Such  belong  to  the  first  or  lower  orders  of  men — 
they  can  find  company  anywhere,  at  any  time.  Careless 
they,  no  matter  whether  it  rains  or  shines ;  it's  all  the 
same  to  them,  whether  school  keeps  or  not.     Of  those 


96  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

who  receive  little,  but  little  is  expected.  It  is  your  fine- 
nerved  people,  the  really  great-hearted  man  or  woman — 
those  who  pertain  to  the  second  or  other  and  higher 
orders*  of  mankind — your  natural  aristocrats  of  the 
Soul- worlds — when  they  get  there — who  on  earth  suffer* 
greatest  and  undergo  the  most. 

This  general  information  came  to  me  as  I  flitted  on 
by  the  home-sides  of  those  whom  I  loved,  and  who,  in 
turn,  loved  me.    Loved  me !    What  a  world  in  a  word  ! 

Iu  the  preceding  pages  I  stated  that  there  were  two 
draughts  of  knowledge  which  came  to  slake  my  death- 
less soul-thirst,  while  I  waited  and  wished  for  Nellie 
and  the  old  man  who  went  with  her.  The  law  of  soul 
is  this  :  any  question,  the  answer  to  which  can  be  com- 
prehended by  the  asker,  may  be  propounded  to  itself  in 
the  absolute  certainty  of  a  correct  response,  provided 
the  knowledge  it  conveys  be  adapted  to  the  ends  of 
good  and  use,  to  either  the  neighbor  or  the  self.  This 
is  an  integral  law  of  the  very  being,  no  matter  where 
that  being  may  be  located.  On  earth  men  are  not  pure 
nor  properly  situated,  hence  it  is  far  more  difficult  for 
them  to  elicit  the  required  knowledge,  than  it  is  for 
those  who  are  not  embodied  ;  yet  the  law  is  as  opera- 
tive on  the  lowest  earth  as  in  the  highest  heaven.  In 
accordance  with  the  principle  laid  down,  that  which  I 
have  faintly  set  forth  came  to  me  ;  but  the  second  les- 
son, which  seemed  to  be  a  sequential  suggestion  of  what 
I  thought  was  an  attack  upon  the  external  wall  of  my 
inclosing  sphere,  conveyed  wisdom  as  well  as  know- 
ledge, the  good  of  which  will  be  seen  by  those  who 
carefully  analyze  it. 

My  glance  now  fell  full  and  direct  upon  the  point 


DEALINGS  WITH  TPIE  DEAD.  97 

where  the  disturbance  of  the  crystalline  barrier  was 
greatest ;  and  while  wondering  if  it  could  withstand 
the  effort  made  by  some  power  on  its  exterior  to  breach 
it,  or  whether  it  would  remain  intact  until  my  wished- 
for  friends  arrived,  I  began  to  study  its  composition. 
It  was  evidently  not  material,  and  yet  it  was  something 
quite  as  substantial.  Among  men  the  surrounding  en- 
velope of  the  body  is  called  the  ■  odylic  sphere  ;;  yet 
odyle  is  material,  therefore  this  could  not  be  formed  of. 
that.  It  was  not  soul-substance,  because  it  was  far 
grosser,  and  served  a  greatly  inferior  purpose.  It  was 
not  spirit,  either.  Here  then  was  a  demand  for  useful 
knowledge  ;  nor  was  it  long  ere  that  demand  was  fully 
supplied  ;  for  it  came  to  me  that  embodied  man  repre- 
sented God  in  his  threefold  nature,  Body,  Spirit,  con- 
scious Soul  or  Thinking  Principle  :  that  each  of  these 
must  essentially  differ  from  the  others,  and  in  a  scien- 
tific sense  be  high,  higher,  and  most  high  ;  and  that  too, 
not  by  reason  of  continuity  or  rarefaction,  but  by  dis- 
parates, and  insulations.  Now  all  three  exist  in,  of, 
and  constitute  the  same  individual;  wherefore  there 
must  be  at  least  two  substances,  differing  in  toto  from 
the  three  primaries,  yet  of  a  nature  enabling  them  to 
cling  to  and  connect  the  principals.  What  were  these 
two  substances  ?  At  a  glance  I  saw  that  the  materials 
of  a  human  body  gave  forth  an  atmosphere  which 
serves  to  connect  it  with  the  life,  or  materio-spiritual 
part  of  man,  and  ties  each  by  soluble  links  to  both  the 
material  and  spiritual  worlds.  This  is  the  odylic  sphere. 
What  connects  soul  with  spirit  ?  The  second  glance 
revealed  to  me  the  fact  that  every  monad,  carnate  and 
conscious  alike,  embodied  or  free,  mere  monad  or  devel- 
5 


98  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

oped  soul,  was  surrounded  by  an  atmosphere  of  its  own, 
unique,  single,  atomless,  homogeneous,  and  elastic. 
This  envelope  is  very  etherial,  and  is  called  Ethylle ; 
it  connects  soul  with  spirit,  and  unites  all  three  worlds, 
body,  soul,  and  spirit  together,  and  constitutes  not  only 
the  spheres,  but  the  '  Personal  Nebulaa,7  out  of  which 
the  immortal  spark  creates  its  surrounding  sphere  or 
world,  when  disembodied,  and  whereof  it,  while  in  the 
flesh,  erects  its  stately  chateaux  en  esjpagne — its  castles 
in  the  air.  Here  was  a  new  solution  of  a  mystery  that 
had  troubled  not  only  myself,  but  many  a  philosopher , 
and  a  solution,  too,  in  perfect  and  strict  accordance 
with  the  principles  of  the  Great  Harmonead ;  for  the 
Nebulous  Ocean  enclosing  the  Spacial  Halls  of  Deity, 
wherein  roll  the  starry  systems,  is  the  ethyllic  envelope 
of  the  Eternal  One>  is  the  material  whereof  he,  through 
his  servants,  the  Forces,  fashioneth  the  mighty  fabrics 
now  floating  in  the  azure. 

Following  hard  upon  the  last  great  discovery,  came 
another,  not  perhaps  so  sublime,  but  quite  as  useful ;  it 
was  this :  The  mental  effort  whose  results  have  just 
been  recorded,  had  the  effect  of  uplifting  my  soul,  and 
firing  it  with  ambition  to  such  an  extent  or  degree,  that, 
seeing  how  little  I  knew,  and  how  vast  the  fields  of  the 
unknown  were,  I  regretted  my  poor  weak  human 
nature,  and  almost  hating  it,  became  impatient  of  re- 
straint, because  I  could  not  take  wing,  and,  flying  to 
the  Grand  Centre,  merge  my  being  into  that  of  God 
Himself,  and  thus  become  all-knowing,  all-Being,  all- 
Life.  I  was  beset  with  the  same  sin  that  hurled  Luci- 
fer down  from  the  empyreal  heights  of  the  vast  heaven  ; 
and  like  him  too,  most  bitterly  did  I  regret  my  daring  ; 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  09 

for  almost  on  the  very  instant  that  this  sacrilegious 
thought  took  possession  of  my  soul,  my  mind  lost  its 
clarity,  my  vision  became  dim  and  misty,  my  equanimity 
was  lost,  and  was  succeeded  by  a  state  entirely  differ- 
ent— a  sort  of  childliness  of  feeling.  Almost  instantly 
my  soul  lost  sight  of  the  magnificent  field  just  opened 
to  its  inspection,  and  was  forced  by  a  power  not  then 
understood,  to  turn  completely  round,  and  direct  its 
gaze  earthward.  Resistance  being  vain,  I  did  so,  and 
observed  directly  opposite  the  point  of  attack  upon  the 
sphereal  wall,  a  window-like  opening,  through  which  I 
looked  down  the  vista  of  a  lane  of  light,  bounded  on 
either  side  by  an  impenetrable  amorphous  wall.  One 
end  of  this  lane  terminated  on  earth,  the  other  in  the 
Soul-world  ;  and  from  the  peculiar  nature  of  the  lesson 
shortly  conveyed,  I  became  aware  of  two  things :  first, 
that  neither  knowledge  nor  joy  ever  flow  into  the  secret 
chambers  of  the  soul,  unless  the  receptacle  vessels  there- 
in are  duly  prepared  to  receive  them  ;  for  although 
knowledge  may  become  a  thing  of  memory,  yet  it  can 
only  remain  stored  up  like  corn  in  a  granary,  and  never 
become  of  positive  value,  or  serve  as  soul-food,  until 
that  soul  itself  is  in  a  condition  to  digest  and  assimilate 
it.  Secondly,  there  could  no  longer  be  a  doubt  but 
that  I  was  being  practically  instructed  by  an  invisible 
being  of  masterly  wisdom  and  accomplishments  ;  and 
from  the  nature  of  the  emotions  within  me,  to  which 
this  thought  gave  rise,  there  was  but  little  if  any  doubt 
that  this  invisible  teacher  was  the  mysterious  '  Him '  to 
whom  Nellie  had  so  mischievously  alluded,  when  she 
invited  me  to  come  with  her. 

If  a  woman  is  loved,  no  matter  where  she  be,  no  mat- 


100         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

ter  by  whom,  or  where  the  lover  may  be,  she  knows  it 
instantly,  without  being  told  of  it.  It  comes  to  her  just 
as  naturally  as  the  yapors  sail  before  the  summer  breeze. 
I  Jcneiv  that  somebody  loved  me  ;  and  that  although 
unseen  hitherto,  that '  some  one ?  was  loved  by  me.  The 
telegraph  of  Affection  is  swifter  and  surer  than  that  of 
electric  batteries,  and  every  true  woman  knows  it,  no 
matter  whether  she  be  dead  or  alive. 

As  the  sense  of  this  flashed  over  me,  my  heart  went 
up  to  God  in  such  a  prayer  of  gratitude  as  only  they 
can  feel  and  know,  whose  deathless  yearnings  have  been 
fully  satisfied.  My  soul  rejoiced  in  its  new  tutelage, 
and  it  praised  God  for  this  sense  of  the  presence  in 
action,  if  not  in  sight,  of  one  who  took  an  interest  in 
clearing  my  pathway  to  Wisdom's  coast,  thus  early  on 
my  everlasting  journey  toward  the  shores  of  the  Infinite 
Sea* 

The  further  end  of  the  lane  of  light  terminated  at  a 
spot  where  was  being  enacted  a  scene  of  a  drama  where- 
in the  actors  were  denizens  of  three  worlds — Earth, 
Soul-world,  and  Middle  State.  The  lesson  taught  me 
was,  that  very  often  organization,  to  a  great  extent, 
governs  and  determines  human  destiny. 

Before  a  vast  audience,  on  a  Sabbath  night,  stood  a 
lonely  man — one  with  massive  and  active  brain,  but 
thin,  weak  and  'puny  body — therefore  an  unbalanced 
character.  The  woman  who  seven  and  twenty  years 
before  had  given  him  birth,  had  imparted  her  own  sen- 
sitive nature  to   her   child ;    while   the  man  through 

*  A  revelation  concerning  which  will  appear  in  the  sequel ;  and 
one,  too,  compared  to  which,  the  grandest  and  most  beautiful  things 
contained  in  the  present  volume,  are  comparatively  trivial. — Pub. 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         101 

whose  agency  God  had  incarnated  the  lonely  one,  was 
of  an  ambitious,  affectionate,  but  passionate  and  passional 
nature.  The  son  thus  congenitally  biased  and  tainted 
had  grown  to  man's  estate,  and  from  various  social 
and  other  causes,  he  being  a  sang  melee,  had  suffered  to 
such  a  degree  that  his  soul  was  driven  in  upon  itself  to 
a  great  extent  j  which,  while  rendering  him  still  more 
sensitive  and  morbid,  also  caused  his  soul  to  expand 
knowledge-ward,  become  wonderfully  intuitive  and  as- 
piring, yet  bound  up  by  the  affectional  nature  within 
his  own  personal  or  individual  sphere.  But  such  souls 
resist  this  damming  up  ;  hence  occasionally  the  banks 
overflowed,  and  he  became  passional ;  forgot  his  dig- 
nity ;  was  led  to  believe  that  whoever  said  love,  meant 
love  ;  was  beset  with  temptation,  and  yielded,  until  at 
last  his  heart  was  torn  to  pieces,  and  his  enveloping 
sphere  became  so  tender  and  weak,  that  it  could  not 
withstand  any  determined  attack  thereon  ;  and  thus  he, 
like  thousands  more  whose  spheres  are  thus  invalidated 
and  relaxed,  became  very  sensitive  to  influences  of  all 
sorts  and  characters,  and  a  ready  tool  and  subject  for 
the  exploitations  and  experiments  of  disembodied  in- 
habitants of  the  Middle  State.  He  became  a  medium ! 
Of  course  this  circumstance  and  qualification  necessarily 
threw  him  into  the  society  of  those  who  accept  the 
modern  theurgy. 

In  proportion  to  the  self-abandonment  and  personal 
abnegation,  the  degree  to  which  the  will  is  vacated,  do 
such  persons  become  good  mediums.  The  more  im- 
mersed in  the  theurgic  studies  and  novelties  they  are, 
the  more  they  lose  themselves,  and  their  value  ceases 
to  be  individual,  but  only  representative.     In  the  last 


102         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

sense  they  inspire  a  liking  in  the  minds  of  others,  but 
in  their  former  capacity,  none  so  generous  as  to  really 
love  and  pity  them ;  for,  being  perfect  automata,  sub- 
ject to  any  and  all  sorts  of  influences,  they  become  all 
things  by  turns,  and  nothing  long  °  hence  they  are  ac- 
cused of  inconsistency  and  everything  else,  by  the  very 
people,  to  serve,  and  amuse,  and  instruct  whom  they 
have  vacated  themselves,  and  consented  tacitly  to  be 
drained  of  the  last  drop  of  man  and  womanhood  by 
harpies  and  vampires  from  both  sides  of  the  grave. 

The  man  before  me  had  been  guilty  of  this  supreme 
folly,  and,  like  many  a  score  of  others,  had  failed  to 
realize  that  no  man  or  woman  can  ever  be  loved  alone 
as  the  representative  or  official,  but  only  as  man  or  wo- 
man ;  nor  that  the  more  one  merges  him  or  herself  in 
an  office,  the  more  one  sinks  the  individual  in  the  re- 
presentative, the  less  are  their  chances  of  being  either 
loved  or  respected.  This  is  one  of  the  reasons  why 
mediums  are,  as  a  class,  unhappy  and  discontented,  al- 
ways craving  love  and  sympathy  for  their  own  sakes, 
and  never  getting  either.  As  mediums  and  speakers, 
they  have  friends  and  admirers  by  the  hundred  ;  but 
let  their  gift  be  lost,  or  themselves  be  demented  or 
driven  into  some  silly  act,  and,  lo !  the  I  friends'  drop 
off  like  rain  from  a  roof.  Of  course,  there  are  those 
who  will  deny  this,  but  it  is  true,  nevertheless,  and  will 
remain  so,  until  these  sensitives  learn  the  lesson  of  self- 
conservation,  and  exchange  the  passive  for  the  active 
mediumship— the  blending  for  their  automacy. 

Let  it  be  observed,  that  every  human  being  is  sur- 
rounded with  an  atmosphere  emanating  from  them- 
selves, and  that  these  enveloping  auras  are  charged 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  103 

by  the  man  or  woman  with  all  the  qualities,  good  or 
bad,  pertaining  to  the  individual.  Thus,  a  person's 
sphere  may  be  fall  of  snakes,  (figuratively  speaking), 
asps,  spiders,  toads,  and  all  manner  of  foul,  vile,  and 
venom-meaning  things  ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  the 
speech  and  external  conduct  of  these  same  persons  may 
be  of  the  blandest  kind.  Now  no  sensitive  can  long 
associate  with  such  without  the  imminent  danger  of 
foul  contagion ;  which,  to  the  extent  that  it  affects  them, 
is  insanity.  Let  one  of  them  be  in  company,  pure, 
good,  honest  and  true,  and  they  will  be  the  same ;  let 
them  mingle  with  Atheists,  Harmonialists,  Infidels,  Free 
Lovers,  Catholics,  Protestants,  Philosophers,  Scientists, 
Christians,  no  matter  whom,  and  straightway  they  be- 
come tinctured  with  corresponding  sentiments  and  opin- 
ions. Nor  is  this  all  j  for  people  from  the  transmundane 
worlds  are  attracted  to  persons  of  corresponding  senti- 
ments, as  well  as  to  those  who,  not  so,  are  yet  magnetic 
sensitives,  and  most  gladly  avail  themselves  of  the  pres- 
ence of  such,  to  give  forth  their  opinions  on  everything 
in  general  and  nothing  in  particular.  This  explains 
why  a  certain  class  of  mediums  blow  hot  and  cold  as 
the  days  go  by ;  for  scarce  an  hour  in  the  week  are  they 
properly  themselves,  but  nearly  all  the  time  are  repre- 
senting somebody  else,  either  in  or  out  of  the  body,  to 
whose  magnetism  they  have  ingloriously  succumbed. 

I  was  speaking  of  spheres  which  encompass  individ- 
uals. They,  as  all  other  things  in  the  great  Harmonead, 
are  rhythmical.  Men  and  their  spheres,  like  musical 
notes,  are  of  varying  quantity  and  value.  Some  are 
whole  notes,  double  notes,  halfs,  eighths,  sixteenths, 
thirty-seconds,    sixty-fourths,    and    so    on.     The  last 


104  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

four  sorts  are  plentiful ;  the  first  three  are  rather  scarce. 
The  last  can  never  approach  the  value  of  the  first,  al- 
beit they  will  reach  to  heights  and  values  infinitely  be- 
yond where  they  may  chance  to  be  at  present ;  but 
when  they  reach  the  point  now  occupied  by  notes  one, 
two,  and  three,  these  latter  will  have  attained  a  vastly 
higher  place  on  the  infinite  scale.  Nor  is  this  all ;  for 
the  law  of  physical  gravitation  has  its  correspondent 
in  the  ^psychical  realm.  A  stone  let  fall  from  a  height 
reaches  the  ground  at  a  constantly  accelerating  rate  of 
speed,  which  speed  is  itself  determined  by  the  greater 
or  less  amount  of  density  and  weight  contained  within 
a  given  bulk.  Thus  a  cubic  inch  of  cork  will  be  longer 
on  the  journey  than  a  corresponding  cube  of  solid  steel. 
And  so  with  the  human  soul.  A,  B,  and  C,  being  more 
unfolded  at  the  start  than  E,  F,  and  G,  by  reason  of 
better  antecedents  and  conditions,  will,  for  all  eternity, 
widen  the  distance  at  first  separating  them.  To  re- 
turn. The  human  notes,  (and  those  of  spheres),  like 
their  correspondents  of  the  musical  staff,  and  of  color, 
are  governed  by  a  law  of  their  own.  A  perfect  human 
society  would  be  perfectly  melodious  aiid  harmonic,  for 
the  reason  that  every  individual  would  fill  his  or  her 
proper  sphere,  and  to  which  they  are  constitutionally 
fitted  and  adapted.  Illustration  :  The  sphere  of  A  is 
sympathetical,  and  accordant  with  and  to  that  of  C  and 
E,  though  not  with  B  and  F  (the  law  of  thirds  and 
fifths),  but  these  latter  will  accord  with  other  notes, 
with  which  also  A  can  assimilate  perfectly,  and  thus 
the  entire  human  scale  can  affinitize,  and  would,  were  it 
not  that  many  uncongenial  notes  are  huddled  and  jum- 
bled together  in  that  utter  distraction  and  confusion 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         105 

called  Society.  The  sole  cause  of  all  the  dissatisfaction 
and  discord  in  the  world  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact,  that 
human  notes,  like  musical  ones,  often  occupy  wrong 
places  on  the  leger  lines  of  being  ;  and  all  that  is  need- 
ed to  set  them  right  is  not,  as  many  world-savers  imag- 
ine, a  complete  destruction  of  the  existing  system,  but 
merely  a  little  judicious  transposition,  to  be  effected  by 
the  great  transposer,  Common  Sense. 

As  I  gazed  through  the  lane  of  light  upon  the  man 
before  the  audience,  I  saw  that  he,  like  others,  was  a 
good  note,  capable  of  filling  an  important  place  in  the 
Harmonead,  but  he  was  far  from  being  in  the  right 
spot,  and  for  two  reasons  ;  one  of  which  was  a  too  vio- 
lent ambition  to  know  mysteries  beyond  him,  and  to 
change  sinners  into  saints  by  eloquent  speech  ;  hence 
he,  like  myself  a  few  moments  before,  became  impatient, 
the  result  of  which  was  a  self-doom  to  lower  planes  of 
thought,  act  and  observation.  I  found  that  he  was  un- 
successful also  from  another  cause.  Believing  himself 
to  be  right;  that  his  knowledge  was  real ;  that  his  in- 
tuitions were  reliable  ;  and,  knowing  that  many  fields 
lay  open  before  his  soul  for  exploration  which  were 
sealed  to  others,  his  spirit  grew  restive  from  neglect, 
and  the  lack  of  attention  he  thought  his  truths  demanded  ; 
and,  from  the  hight  of  power,  he  fell  to  abjectness,  because 
he  could  not,  would  not  pander  to  the  popular  taste  and 
fancy.  This  last  was  a  *  sin'  in  the  right  direction  truly ; 
but  one  that  took  many  a  mouthful  of  bread  frotn  his 
wife  and  little  ones,  who  had  been  well  fed,  clothed  and 
cared  for,  if  the  spirit  of  pride  had  given  way  to  policy, 
imposture  and  craft ;  three  counterpoints  which  would 
have  brought  out,  set  off  and  relieved  certain  beauties 


106  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

whose  effect  would  have  been  '  Popularity'  below,  but 
regrets,  deep  and  bitter,  in  the  Soul-world.  Fool  was 
he,  or  was  he  not  ?  for  refusing  to  ring  the  dull  changes 
suited  to  the  edification  and  advancement  of  so-called 
■  Philosophers  and  Reformers/  people  who  hold  Jesus 
up  to  ridicule,  and  speak  of  God  as  "  The  chap  supposed 
to  dwell  beyond  the  stars  I"  No !  His  true  place  was  as 
the  center  of  a  few  prayerful  souls,  and  the  wielder  of 
the  pen  for  God's  sake,  instead  of  being  the  mouth-piece 
and  oracle  of  and  for  those,  who  next  day  would  not 
only  forget,  but  previously  curse  him  for  his  pains. 

It  came  to  me  that  such  is  the  fate  of  nearly  all  that 
class  of  persons  who  cultivate  spiritual  acquaintances  at 
the  cost  of  loss  of  will  and  complete  self-sacrifice. 
These  people,  at  best,  are  only  the  ephemera  of  the  age, 
and  well  it  is  that  such  is  the  case.  They  are  sneered 
at,  vilified,  scandalized,  and  traduced — sapped  of  the 
last  drop  of  vitality,  and  then  exultingly  laughed  at  for 
being  such  fools  ;  and  when  the  days  of  hardship  come, 
but  very  few  of  those  for  whom  the  tremendous  sacrifice 
has  been  made,  will  go  to  their  relief.  In  fact  these 
human-looking  and  humane-talking  people  can  stand  the 
self-immolated  victim's  grief  and  sorrow  very  well  in- 
deed. The  rising  tide  may  engulph  the  lonely  ones, 
and  not  a  hand  of  them  all  be  stretched  out  to  save. 
True,  such  conduct  is  in  strict  accordance  with  the  way 
of  the  world,  but  it  is  a  very  bad  way,  and  those  who 
follow  it  will  pay  for  their  folly  in  the  coming  ages. 

Instead  of  using  these  unfortunates  in  this  manner, 
the  true  motto  and  resolve  Of  every  one  should  be  : 
1  It  may  be  that  God  or  Destiny  is  working  out  some 
deep  and    instructive  problem   through   that  man  or 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         107 

woman,  for  the  world's  best  good.  It  is  well  to  be  on 
the  safe  side,  and  therefore  best  to  treat  them  tenderly 
and  kindly  ;  for  it  may  happen  that  it  shall  be  said  to 
us  hereafter  :  'Even  as  ye  have  treated  the  least  of 
these,  my  servants,  ye  have  also  treated  me  1'  It  will 
be  pleasant  to  know,  in  the  upper  worlds,  that  you  have 
dried  some  tears  and  bound  up  some  bleeding  wounds 
in  the  lower  ones." 

Thus  I  stood  and  viewed,  at  one  glance,  both  cause 
and  result.  The  man's  body  was  haggard,  his  spirit 
very,  very  weary,  and  the  enveloping  sphere  was  liter- 
ally torn  into  shreds.  These  spheres  can  only  be  kept 
intact  and  entire  by  the  exercise  of  an  active  will ;  but 
this  man's  will,  like  that  of  vast  numbers  of  the  medi- 
umistic  class — the  automata  of  the  dwellers  in  the  Mid- 
dle State — had  slept,  and  that  so  soundly  that  nothing 
but  the  echoes  of  his  own  misery  could  break  it.  Such 
people  let  things  take  their  own  course,  or  else  rely  on 
Spirits  and  earthly  friends,  instead  of  on  themselves  and 
Deity.  They  pursue  the  ways  of  such  a  false  life,  heed- 
less of  the  inevitable  consequences  of  sorrow  and  dis- 
aster that  must  ensue  ;  they  forget  that,  to  be  even  a 
moderately  talented  man  or  woman,  is  infinitely  prefer- 
able to  being  the  mere  machine  and  mouth-piece  of  the 
loftiest  seraph  in  the  great  Yalhalla  of  the  Skies — and 
that,  too,  for  reasons  plainly  discernible. 

I  saw,  with  grief  and  consternation,  that  not  one 
medium  in  every  ten  had  a  perfect  envelope — else  they 
would  not  be  so  easily  influenced  by  mortals,  nor  ob- 
sessed and  possessed  by  the  dead  people  from  the  mid- 
regions  beyond  the  earth. 

Through  these  openings  the  bodies  and  souls  of  me* 


108         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

diums  may  be  and  are  attacked,*  the  remnant  of  will 
destroyed  or  lulled,  the  moral  sense  stupified,  and  the 
entire  being  subjugated  by  spectral  harpies  and  human 
ghouls,  who  wander  on  either  bank  of  existence. 

Many  people,  when  reading  the  Scriptures,  are  in- 
clined to  explain  away  many  things  as-  -  poetry '  which 
ought  not  to  be  so  interpreted.  Thus  the  first  chapter 
of  the  book  of  Job  contains  the  following  assertions, 
which  it  would  be  well  to  read  oftener  and  more  care- 
fully :  "  Now  there  was  a  day  when  the  sons  of  God 
came  to  present  themselves  before  the  Lord,  and  Satan 
came  also  among  them.  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Satan, 
Whence  comest  thou  ?  Then  Satan  answered  the  Lord 
and  said,  From  going  to  and  fro  in  the  earth,  and  from 
walking  up  and  down  in  it." 

Satan  here  undoubtedly  means  an  evil  chief  of  the 
harpy  bands  infesting  the  borders  of  both  worlds, 
whose  sole  delight  it  is  to  circumvent  God  and  man, 
and  bring  all  good  things  to  an  evil  end.  Whether 
this  state  of  things  shall  continue,  depends  not  upon 
God  or  the  devils,  but  upon  man,  and  his  actions,  influ- 
ence and  aspirations.  Those  ill-meaning  ones  who  live 
just  beyond  the  threshold,  often  attain  their  ends  by 
subtly  infusing  a  semi-sense  of  volitional  power  into 
the  minds  of  their  intended  victims  ;  so  that  at  last 
they  come  to  believe  themselves  to  be  self-acting,  when 


*  Good  spirits  do  not  break  the  sphere  !  They  approach  the  crown  of  the 
head  and  infuse  thoughts,  else  blend  themselves  with  the  subject,  but 
never  by  destroying  either  consciousness  or  will.  Evil  spirits  attack 
the  lower  brain,  the  amative  organs,  the  lower  passions,  and  force  the 
spheres  of  their  victims.  In  a  similar  way  the  bad  people  destroy  and 
ruin  good  ones, — Pub. 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         109 

in  fact  they  arc  but  the  merest  shuttlecocks,  bandied 
about  between  the  battled oors  of  knavish  devils  on  one 
side,  and  devilish  knaves  upon  the  other  ;  and  between 
the  two,  the  poor  wretches  are  nearly  heart-reft  and 
destroyed. 

For  every  ill  there  is  a  remedy,  God-sanctioned  and 
provided  ;  and  the  only  one  in  such  cases  is  the  re- 
integration and  rejuvenation  of  the  will,  and  the  repair- 
ing therewith  of  the  disrupted  sphere.  The  way  that 
end  is  accomplished,  is  through  the  instrumentality  of 
prayer  and  a  persistent  exercise  of  will.  No  person  > 
who  is  at  all  reasonable,  will  for  one  moment  believe 
that  any  of  the  profounder  mysteries  have  yet  been 
revealed  by  the  class  of  spiritual  beings  who  rap,  tip, 
turn  tables,  and  entrance  mediums — the  effect  of  all  of 
which  should  only  be  to  merely  call  attention,  in  well- 
regulated  minds,  to  a  new  class  of  demonstrative  evi- 
dence of  the  soul's  immortality.  When  the  intercourse 
between  the  two  worlds  shall  have  become  normal, 
healthful  and  regular,  the  earth's  inhabitants  may  look 
for  light  from  beyond,  of  a  nature  and  character  far, 
very  far  above  aught  that  yet  has  come  ;  and  that  much 
of  the  coming  light  will  reach  the  earth  in  the  same 
mode  as  that  which  is  herein  given,  must  be  apparent, 
because  the  process  is  a  normal  and  healthful  one,  pro- 
ducing satisfaction  and  content  instead  of  doubt  and 
distrust,,  as  has  been  the  case  heretofore. 

Mankind,  in  either  world,  are  as  yet  only  on  the  bor- 
ders— the  very  edges  of  being  and  of  knowledge — and 
men  must  and  will  come  en  rapport  with  the  higher  life 
only  by  living  correct  lives  below. 

The  first  step  toward  this  normal  inspiration  and  en- 


110         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

lightenment  consists  in  gaining  a  complete  mastery  of 
the  self,  the  purpose,  and  the  will.  The  man  or  woman 
who  believes  what  any  spiritual  being  may  rap,  tip,  talk 
out,  or  write  about,  merely  because  it  is  a  Spirit,  has 
not  yet  left  off  childish  things.  In  the  coming  time, 
men  will  derive  information  directly  from  the  Soul- 
worlds,  and  not  by  the  proxy  of  tables  and  spirits,  as 
now. 

The  course  here  recommended  is  the  true  and  only 
one  capable  of  effecting  the  redemption  and  liberation 
of  the  obsessed  from  the  terrible  thraldom  to  which,  by 
their  own  unwise  action,  they  have  been  subjected. 
The  sufferings  of  the  class  alluded  to  ought  to  be  prima 
facie  evidence  to  themselves  that  their  methods  of 
dealing  with  the  dead  are  not  the  proper  ones,  nor  such 
as  should  be  adopted  by  any  sane  or  rational  being. 
Their  miseries,  as  a  general  thing,  are  severe  enough  to 
excite  the  pity  and  commiseration  of  even  a  fiend  ;  yet 
scarce  ten  in  a  hundred  of  these  self-immolated  victims 
receive  even  the  poor  meed  of  thanks,  much  less  food 
and  raiment,  for  their  toil  and  pains.  By  self-abnega- 
tion and  resignation  of  the  will,  they  have  brought  their 
misery  upon  themselves,  by  opening  their  spheres  for  the 
free  entrance  of  whatever  apocryphal  philosopher  or 
saint,  whose  identity  they  can  never  prove,  may  choose 
to  accept  their  invitation  ;  and  after  displacing  their  own 
common  sense,  substitute  a  very  M-common  kind  in  lieu 
thereof.  It  is  only  by  an  assertion  of  self,  of  will — a 
persistent  upbuilding  and  reparation  of  the  shattered 
fabric  of  their  personal  spheres — that  the  evil  can  be 
kept  distant  and  the  good  be  attracted  and  entertained. 
The  great  mass  of  obsessing  and  demonstrating  spirits 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         Ill 

are  from  the  Middle  Kingdoms  ;  some  of  them  are  very 
powerful,  and  are  scripturally  spoken  of  as""  Princes 
and  Powers  of  the  Kingdoms  of  the  air."  The  better 
class  are  denizens  of  the  pure  Soul-worlds,  which  is  as  far 
removed  from  the  Mid-region  as  light  is  from  shadow. 
It  is  only  by  beating  them  off,  that  mediums  can  ever 
hope  to  regain  their  self-control,  establish  a  communion 
with  the  divine  City  of  pure  souls,  and  successfully  pass 
through  the  body  of  their  double  death,  into  the  calm, 
sweet  and  holy  atmosphere  of  the  blissful  regions  which 
exist  above. 

Millions  there  are,  around  whose  hearts  the  tendrils 
of  fondest  love  do  cling — whose  happiness  is  centered 
in  some  dear  one's  heart,  and  to  whom  life  were  a  dreary 
waste  and  barren,  were  they  deprived  of  the  sweet  and 
cheering  presence  of  their  lost  ones,  at  least  in  memory. 
The  question  of  questions  to  these  is,  '  Shall  we  meet 
again  ? — shall  the  broken  links  be  reunited  in  the  lands 
beyond  the  River  ?  When  Death  shall  have  sealed  us 
apart,  comes  there  ever  a  time  when  that  seal  shall  be 
melted,  and  we  loving  ones  clasp  each  other  in  a  fond 
embrace  ?'  Such  are  vital  questions,  to  which  different 
answers  must  be  given. 

One  of  the  secrets  which  I  soon  discovered  in  the 
Soul-world  was  that  consanguinity,  although  a  very 
strong  bond  of  union  between  people,  is  by  no  means 
the  strongest.  Those  souls  are  nearest  who  occupy  the 
same  position  on  the  plane  of  development.  Thus  it 
often  happens  that  brothers  and  sisters  are  really  less 
related  than  the  same  persons  are  to  the  most  distant 
strangers.  Children  are  often  born  of  the  same  pa- 
rents, whose  appearance,  conversation,  deportment,  con- 


112         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

stitution,  habits,  disposition  and  proclivities  are  as  dif- 
ferent as  different  can  be.  Such  relations  have  nothing 
in  common,  save  that  the  monad  constituting  the  soul  of 
each  becomes  incarnate  in  the  same  matrix  ;  that  is  all. 
All  monads  vary  ;  some  are  more  unfolded  and  unfold- 
able  than  others,  and  while  the  intrinsic  quality  of  each 
corresponds,  yet  conditions  may  cause  a  higher  expres- 
sion of  one  than  another,  or  that  same  one  under  differ- 
ent circumstances.  Thus  a  monad,  be  it  never  so  ripe 
in  itself,  is  forced  to  surround  itself  with  certain  spirit- 
ual and  material  envelopes,  furnished  by  the  father,  on 
its  passage  from  his  soul-cells  to  the  gestative  chamber 
wherein  it  clothes  itself  with  corporality.  Now,  what- 
ever clings  to  the  monad  on  its  passage  is  totally  ex- 
ternal, and  is  charged  with  the  man.  If  he  is  a  sot  or 
libertine,  bloodthirsty  or  ambitious,  cheerful  or  de- 
spondent, these  states  are  impressed  upon  all  his  juices 
and  fluids,  nervous,  physical  or  spiritual ;  and  the  en- 
velopes of  the  commissioned  monad,  partaking  of  these 
impressions,  subsequently  develops  in  the  same  direc- 
tion, and,  on  the  principles  of  attraction  and  impres- 
sion, affect  the  fore-future  of  the  contained  monad  or 
germ-soul.  That  this  is  true,  and  that  all  the  ill  is  im- 
pressed externally,  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  a  couple 
may  have  children  during  one  decade,  wherein  the  pa- 
rents live  upon  a  low  external  plane,  which  children 
will  be  angular,  and  manifest  any  but  lovely  and 
genial  traits.  The  same  persons,  during  the  second 
decade,  may  reform  and  become  deeply  moved  with  re- 
ligious sentiment,  such  as  expresses  itself  in  prayer- 
meetings,  singing,  and  violent  faith-practice.  The  chil- 
dren born  under  this  reign  will  be  deeply  excitable, 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         113 

fervent,  ambitious,  sensitive,  boisterous  at  times,  and,  as 
a  general  thing,  superficial  and  changeable.  During 
the  third  decade,  when  common  sense,  practical  ration- 
ality, and  just  and  noble  views  of  life  and  its  obligations 
shall  have  taken  the  place  of  their  previous  state- 
when  cleanliness,  light,  air,  and  sunshine,  daily-acted 
prayers  instead  of  loud-mouthed  lip-worship,  consti- 
tute some  of  the  elements  of  their  religion — and  when 
their  bodies  have  become  purified  by  proper  living, 
eating,  drinking  and  labor — their  children  will  be  born 
with  larger  brain3,  better  bodies,  nobler  appearances  ; 
and  their  career  through  life  will  correspond.  All  this 
is  as  true  as  the  Eternal  Gospel,  and  shows  that,  al- 
though ill  and  evil  are  deeply  rooted  in  the  human  soil, 
yet  they  are  by  no  means  ineradicable. 

All  men  know  that  they  often  feel  more  love  and 
friendship  for  strangers  than  they  do  for  their  own 
blood  brothers ;  and  friendship,  when  real,  and  not 
based  upon  physical  properties,  or  selfish  motives,  is  a 
thing  that  unquestionably  survives  the  ordeal  of  the 
grave.  Persons  thus  bound  together  will,  and  do  meet, 
whether  of  the  same  lineage  or  not.  But  it  often  happens 
that  the  best  of  earthly  friends  belong  to  and  represent  two 
distinct  orders  of  soul ;  and  it  may  be  that  they  pertain 
to  orders  so  widely  separated,  that  on  earth,  as  in  the 
heavens,  they  must  lose  each  other,  and  strike  hands 
and  hearts  over  a  gulf  impassable  by  either.  Do  you 
not  see  hundreds  of  proofs  of  this  all  around  you  on  the 
earth?  A  tender,  gentle,  delicate  girl  often  clings,  with 
all  the  desperate  energy  of  idolization,  to  some  rough, 
coarse,  uncouth,  unkempt  and  brutish  fellow.  The  love 
of  that  poor  heart  will  redeem  that  man  from  many  a 


114  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

horror  in  the  Middle  state,  and  ensure  his  speedier  en- 
trance into  the  lovely  gardens  of  the  Soul-world !  The 
same  principle  is  demonstrated  even  among  the  animals, 
between  opposite  species  of  whoni  the  fondest  attach- 
ments often  exist,  as  is  seen  in  the  Happy  Families  of 
menageries  ;  the  love  of  a  lion  for  a  tigress,  a  cat  for 
a  rat,  a  horse  for  a  hog,  a  serpent  for  a  rabbit,  and  last 
and  greatest,  the  love  of  the  dog  for  man — an  affection 
so  deep  and  pure,  that  it  puts  that  between  human  be- 
ings to  the  blush  of  shame  by  comparison  ;  for  the  dog — 
generous,  noble  dog ! — everywhere  sacrifices  every  other 
love,  and  devotes  his  entire  being  to  the  services  of  his 
human  friend.  -* 

Dogs  and  birds  abound  in  both  the  Spirit  and  the 
Soul-worlds.  In  both  they  are  representatives  of  states 
— loves,  affections — and  are  found  in  the  former  realm 
quite  as  often  as  in  the  latter,  for  the  reason  that  the 
coarsest,  most  wicked,  and  brutal  man,  he  who  most 
violently  hates  his  kind,  yet  must,  and  does,  and  will 
love  something,  and  the  dog  is  almost  universally  that 
object,  else  a  bird  or  fowl  ;  for  how  often  do  you  see 
the  drunkard  followed  by  his  faithful  cur,  and  how  fre- 
quently the  hardest  man  in  a  community  lavishes  the 
most  tender  care  upon  a  fowl — a  game-cock,  a  parrot  or 
canary — sweet,  beautiful,  lovely  canary! 

The  first  reply  to  the  question, l  Shall  we  friends  meet 
again?7  must  be  answered  affirmatively.  You  will  meet, 
but  whether  ye  remain  together  is  another  question, 
and  depends  altogether  on  the  rapidity  with  which  the 
one  shall  unfold  and  develope  up  to  the  point  occupied 
by  the  other.  But,  if  the  one  friend  belongs  to  one  or- 
der, and  the  other  to  a  higher,  then  the  electric  chain 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  115 

of  unity  will  connect  ye  over  the  vastest  ocean  of  infi- 
nite space.  Everything  moves  in  elliptical  orbits  in  the 
material,  spiritual  and  affectional  realms  alike.  In  the 
Soul-world  the  foci  of  this  ellipse  are  Memory  and  Hope. 
The  lines  constituting  it  are  also  the  lines  of  the  great 
Harmonead — the  vast  Sympathia  ;  every  human  being, 
good  as  well  as  evil,  is  located  on  its  plane,  and  along 
Its  wires  forever  is  flashing  love  and  well-wishing,  and 
every  heart  must  have  its  pulses  quickened  by  the  warm 
magnetic  outflow.  The  sun's  heat  falls  at  an  angle 
which  enables  Nova  Zembla's  icebergs  to  laugh  at  his 
efforts  to  melt  them  ;  they  have  laughed  these  myriad 
centuries  ;  will  laugh,  perhaps,  for  hundreds  more  ;  yet 
the  sun  is  patient,  still  shines  on,  and  with  such  a  steady 
radiance  and  blandness,  that  the  frozen  North  begins  to 
quake  with  apprehension  lest  its  reign  be  forever  closed ; 
for  somehow  it  begins  to  feel  that  the  question  of  its 
regnancy  is  only  one  of  time,  and  that  heat  is,  after  all, 
more  powerful  than  cold,  love  than  hatred  ;  wherefore 
it  must  one  day  yield — resolve  its  ices  into  liquid  flow  ; 
cause  its  frozen  heaps  to  ride  upon  the  waves  toward 
the  steaming  seas  ;  relieve  the  poles  ;  let  the  earth 
swing  round,  and  all  surface-earth  smile  with  green 
gladness.  So  with  the  worlds  beyond.  The  rays  of 
goodness  have  long  shone  upon  the  evil  ones  of  the 
Middle  State,  and  have  bounded  off  again.  Still  around 
go  the  flashes  again  and  again  ;  for  neither  God  nor  true 
human  souls  grow  tired  of  loving,  even  though  that  love 
be  repelled  seven,  seventy,  or  seven  myriads  of  times  ! 
Around  goes  the  flash,  and  at  every  circuit  some  good  is 
done !  Navigators  tell  you  that  every  year  the  number 
and  bulk  of  icebergs  from  the  Northern  oceans  increase 


116  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

in  number  in  the  Southern  seas.  Every  one  of  them  is 
a  victory  achieved  by  Persuasion  over  Force  ;  and  even 
so  the  population  of  the  realms  of  the  Soul-worlds  is  con- 
stantly increased  by  the  accession  of  people  who,  having 
got  tired  of  Hell,  voted  it  unpleasant,  and  have  deemed 
it  expedient  to  emigrate  to  Heaven,  a  land  which,  they 
have  learned  from  missionaries,  abounds  in  milk  and 
honey,  and  all  good  things  whatsoever.  Every  one  of  this 
host  of  emigrants  is  an  accession  to  the  Good,  and  a  loss 
irreparable  to  the  Bad !  Every  one  is  a  symbol  of  the 
victory  of  Right  over  Wrong.  Bye-and-bye  there  will 
be  a  total  depopulation  of  the  Middle  kingdoms,  and 
their  places  will  be  supplied  with  something  better  ; 
and  the  sooner  mankind  cease  to  do  evil  and  learn  to 
do  well,  the  quicker  will  this  much-desired  hegira  take 
place. 

Pure  love  changes  males  into  men ;  and  when  men  be- 
come what  they  are  capable  of  in  an  upward  direction, 
the  Middle  State  will  cease  to  be  replenished  by  such  as 
love  ill. 

Of  course,  in  a  work  professedly  dealing  with  and  ex- 
plaining the  principia,  like  this,  it  is  impossible  to  enter 
fully  into  specialities ;  that  task  is  deferred  till  another 
occasion. 

No  truer  saying  ever  was  uttered  than  that  God  helps 
those  who  help  themselves  ; — a  work  which  every  one, 
especially  the  mediumistic  class,  are  especially  called  on 
to  perform. 

These  being  two  sides  to  everything,  there  is  the 
same  to  mediumship.  The  non-injurious  kind  is  that 
which  I  advocate,  and  it  consists  in  the  Blending  pro- 
cess already  alluded  to  and  explained.    No  possible 


DEALINGS   WITH  THE    DEAD.  117 

harm  can  result  from  it.  On  the  contrary,  the  popular 
sort,  originating  in  the  orient  long  centuries  ago,  and 
now  revived  in  these  latter  days,  can  but  be  injurious 
to  the  last  degree,  because  it  consists  in  the  usurpation 
of  the  living  by  the  UNKNOWN  !  There  is  a  better 
way — a  safer  road,  a  thornless  route — by  means  of 
which  to  reach  all  the  knowledge,  and  far  more  besides, 
which  is  sought  to  be  obtained  by  the  other  practice. 
That  surer  means  does  not  consist  in  an  abandonment 
of  self,  or  stultification  of  the  moral  sense  and  will,  nor 
in  Mesmerism,  or  the  use  of  hashish — the  pestilent 
thing — nor  in  the  employment  of  any  unhealthful 
means,  but  in  an  increase  and  strengthening  of  will, 
and  consciousness,  and  moral  purpose  ;  not  in  a  loss 
of  consciousness  or  responsibility,  but  in  an  intensifica- 
tion and  growth  thereof.  This  better  sort  of  spiritual- 
ism is  based  upon  the  heart  and  soul ;  not,  like  the  other 
sort,  upon  the  nerves  and  body.  This  better  sort  pro- 
tects the  sphere  from  the  attacks,  amatory  and  cerebral, 
to  which  the  acolytes  of  the  other  kind  are  subjected. 
If  people  went  direct  to  God  for  enlightenment,  instead 
of  to  Spirits,  who  so  frequently  deceive,  there  would  be 
much  less,  in  fact  no  evil,  at  all,  resulting  from  the  in- 
tercourse over  the  bridges  of  Time  and  Eternity  ;  and, 
by  firmly  relying  on  Him  whose  very  existence  thou- 
sands of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Middle  State  deny  and 
scout  the  bare  idea  of,  people  would  not  only  be  able  to 
preserve  their  odylic  spheres  intact,  but  would  be  pro- 
tected from  the  diabolic  influence  and  machinations  of 
the  harpies  who  infest  the  Threshold,  and  frequently 
deliver  long  and  sounding  platitudes  from  the  lips  of 
shut-eyed  members  of  the  two  sexes  ;  for  they  are  not 


118  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

men  and  women  yet,  by  a  great  deal.  No  one  is,  who 
yields  the  will  and  resigns  both  soul  and  body  to  any 
spectral  experimenter  in  phreno-mesmerism  who  may 
chance  to  flit  along,  in  their  excursions  '  up  and  down 
the  world/  and  who  are  continually  '  going  to  and  fro 
therein. '  Reasonable  people,  whether  of  earth  or  higher 
worlds,  are  beginning  to  weary  of  seeing  and  hetiring 
sensible-looking  men  and  women,  with  closed  eyes,  ' 
pacing  up  and  down  a  platform,  and,  with  folly-driven 
tongue,  giving  vent  to  '  philosophy'  which  neither  God, 
angels  nor  men  can  comprehend  a  word  of ! 

Before  long,  something  of  the  realities  of  the  soul  and 
its  hidden  history  will  be  known,  and  then  ambitious 
mouthers  will  no  longer  split  the  ears  of  the  people 
with  senseless  harangues — olla-podridas  compounded  of* 
moon-shine  and  nonsense — pseudo-philosophic  hash,  con- 
cocted of  fish,  flesh  and  fowl — most  fotd,  gammon  of 
Bacon  and  Swedenborg  essences — whereof  the  great 
Seer  is  as  innocent  as  Peter  the  Hermit  was  of  slaying 
Abel.  The  time  approaches  when  a  better  state  of 
things  shall  exist,  and  more  rational  views  of  human 
immortality  be  entertained  by  the  masses.  People  have 
made  a  great  mistake  in  supposing  that  all  the  high- 
flown  stuff  spoken,  written  or  printed,  as  emanations 
from  the  worlds  beyond,  were  really  true  ;  for  much  of 
it  originated  in  the  brains  of  the  deliverers  thereof, 
whilst  more  of  it  is  but  the  result  of  tricky  exploita- 
tions of  disembodied  wags,  or  downright  evil  spirits. 
Another  and  very  popular  error  is,  that  the  advent  of 
Spiritualism  constitutes  the  opening  dawn  of  a  New 
Dispensation  ;  that  it  is  to  supersede  Christianity,  or  to 
become  the  nucholi  of  a  new  order  of  sects,  or  even  the 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  119 

nucleus  or  pivot  of  a  single  one.  No,  no  ;  Spiritualism 
has  not  yet  produced  fruit  in  the  souls  of  its. believers, 
at  all  to  be  compared  to  those  growing  on  the  tree 
planted  on  the  stony  heights  of  Calvary  nearly  two 
thousand  years  ago  !  It  is,  in  itself,  powerless  to  su- 
persede a  system  so  infinitely  grand  and  sublime  as  that 
founded  by  the  twelve  fishermen  and  their  illustrious 
Lord.  Nor  is  such  its  mission.  Supply  and  demand  wait 
ever  upon  each  other.  The  sense  of  human  immortality, 
in  community,  the  wide  world  over,  had  grown  dull, 
vagueand  indistinct,  lulled  by  the  droning  music  and 
somnifying  humdrum  of  theology.  Churchianity  to  a 
great  degree  had  usurped  the  office  and  functions  of 
Christianity,  and  the  sense  of  an  hereafter  had  so 
nearly  died  out.  that  bad  advocates  of  annihilation 
preached  and  printed  their  infernal  libels  on  the  cor- 
ners of  the  world's  highway,  and  millions  began  to  seri- 
ously question  wherein  man  was  entitled  to  what  ani- 
mals were  not  ;  while  philosophic  hucksters  still,  with 
quirk  and  grimace,  howled  forth  ''Books  proving  God  a 
myth,  Christ  a  bastard,  the  Bible  a  lie,  immortality  a 
lame  delusion,  and  virtue  mere  nonsense  I"  And  then 
these  peddlers  bawled  :  "  What  pre-eminence  hath  a 
man  above  a  brute  ?  Wherein  is  he  better  than  the 
dogs  which  perish  ?  Who  kaoweth  the  Spirit  of  a  man 
that  it  goeth  upward,  or  the  spirit  of  a  beast  that  it  is 
blotted  out  and  goeth  outward  like  an  extinguished 
lamp,  or  downward  like  a  lead  to  the  bottom  of — non- 
entity ?  Come,  buy  my  books  !  come,  buy  my  books  !'"' 
Surely  here  was  a  demand  for  light  upon  the  tre- 
mendous question,  '  Are  we  to  be,  or  not  to  be,  when 
life'3  fitful  fever  is  o'er  V    Here  was  a  question  requir- 


120  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

ing  the  lips  of  the  infinite  God  to  answer — and  He  did  ! 
for  with  the  weakest  instruments  He  confounded  earth's 
greatest  and  wisest  men.  Through  a  harlot's  daughter 
was  met  and  vanquished  all  opposers  of  His  truth,  that 
"  Death  was  not  the  destiny  of  man  ;"  through  a  bar- 
ber's clerk  was  revealed  the  Hierarchy  of  the  vast 
Heaven  ;  through  a  country-school  teacher  was  declared 
the  Order  and  the  Majesty  of  Being  ;  and  through  the 
agency  even  of  the  wicked  dead  was  demonstrated 
man's  continued  life  !  Spiritualism  came,  not  as  the  su- 
perseder  of  the  Christ,  but  as  the  final  demonstrator  of 
His  truth.  It  came  to  transfuse  new  energy  into  man 
and  man's  religion  ;  it  comes  to  point  the  better  way, 
and  to  foreshadow  the  radiant  glories  now  beneath  the 
horizon  ;  it  comes  saying,  '  Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the 
Lord — make  His  paths  straight  by  straightening  thine 
own ! '  It  comes  to  infuse  new  and  glowing  hope  in 
every  heart  bowed  down  ;  and  from  the  hill-tops  and 
the  valleys  of  the  world  alike,  it  points  man's  vision 
upward,  and  bids  him,  in  the  midst  of  all  his  trouble 
and  sorrow,  to  -  Remember,  God  is  there !  up  there ! 
In  the  steep  and  radiant  sky  He  paints  the  picture  of 
the  yet  to  Be,  and  sending  spiritual  duplicates  thereof 
to  His  children  in  their  deep  sleep,  bids  the  dreamer 
behold  them,  treasure  their  memory,  and  to  live — live 
highly,  purely  nobly,  manfully  !  Live,  live,  and  die  no 
more  forever !' 

Spiritualism — true  Spiritualism — is  one  expression 
and  element  of  the  soul  of  the  age — an  age  whose  body 
is  exceedingly,  corrupt ;  and  it  so  quickens  the  intui- 
tions of  some  of  the  watchers  on  the  tower,  that  they 
can  already  see  the  glimmer  of  the  rising  sun  of  glad- 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  121 

ness — a  sun  too,  whose  glorious  beams  will  dissipate 
all  the  fogs  and  mists  now  bending  over  human  heads, 
and  shutting  out  the  light  of  higher  heavens  than  op- 
tician's glass  can  ever  reveal.  Aye,  truly  do  some  be- 
hold the  hither  end  of  the  bow  of  promise,  and  these  are 
singing  the  song  of  approaching  joy  : 
"  The  wiser  time  will  surely  come 

When  this  fine  overplus  of  night, 

No  longer  sullen,  slow  or  dumb, 

Shall  leap  to  music  and  to  light. 

In  that  new  childhood"  of  the  world, 

Life  of  itself  shall  dance  and  play, 

Fresh  blood  through  Time's  shrunk  veins  be  hurled, 

And  Labor  meet  Delight  half-way." 

There  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  the  days  of  Evil  by 
God  are  numbered — those  arising  from  obsession  in- 
cluded. 

Gating  still  adown  the  lane  of  light,  I  saw  that  a 
process  had  been  commenced  in  the  soul  of  the  man 
upon  the  stage,  who  was  about  to  address  the  assem- 
bled crowd — a  process,  too,  which  would  ultimately  set 
him  free — for  already  his  sphere  ^indicated  the  begin- 
ning of  the  reparatory  action  ;  and  in  precisely  so  far 
as  he  helped  himself,  and  shook  off  the  influence  of 
others,  just  so  far  did  one  or  two  attendant  and.  ra- 
diantly bright  beings,  of  a  high  and  pure  order,  assist 
and  protect  him  ;  and,  gazing  upon  the  scroll  of  his  des- 
tiny, I  saw  that  in  five  years  from  that  day  he  would 
complete  his  apprenticeship,  and  stand  before  the  world 
no  longer  an  automaton,  but  a  firm  and  solid-minded 
man  ;  that,  no  longer  lecturing  upon  useless  metaphysi- 
cal abstractions,  he  would,  for  three  years,  preach  the 
gospel  of  truth  and  true  Christianity,  with  a  power  and 
effect  never  to  be  attained  by  human  machines,  but  only 
6 


122  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

by  good,  well-developed,  unfolded,  and  harmonic  souls. 
#     *      *      *      Slowly  the  opening  through  which  this 
great  practical  drama  was  seen,  and  its  beautiful  teach- 
ings conveyed  to  me,  closed  up,  and  once  more  I  stood 
solitary  in  the  midst  of  my  aural  sphere.     Looking  now 
toward  the  point  wherefrom  I  had  turned  a  little  while 
before,  my  eyes  observed  that  the  apparent  attack  upon 
its  integrity  was  still  going  on ;  but  this  was  mechanical 
only,  for  my  mind  was  dwelling  upon  things  of  far  more 
interest  and  importance.    Amongst  other  lessons  gained 
during  the  brief  time  that  I  had  been  dead  to  earth, 
alive  to  a  higher  existence,  was  this  :  The  terrestrial 
world  itself  is  really  spiritual,  could  mankind  but  per- 
ceive it.     For  instance,  every  tree,  shrub,  flower,  plant 
and  animal  is  not  only  possessed  of  an  ideal  and  thought- 
representative   value,  but  they  are   themselves   essen- 
tially spiritual ;  for  the  bark,  and  leaves,  and  woody 
fiber,  the  flower-petals,  and  all  that  physical  eyes  be- 
hold, are  not  the  things  they  seem,  but  are  merely  the 
outer-coats  and  coverings,  the  cloaks  and  garments  which 
the  things  themselves  put  on ;  the  nature  of  the  external 
form  being  determined  by  a  law  integral  to  the  very  thing 
itself,  just  as  a  picture  is  merely  the  physical  embodi- 
ment of  an  idea  in  the  artist's  mind.     Unfavorable  con- 
ditions cramp  some  trees  physically ;  but  burn  the  wood, 
and  the  spirit  of  the  tree  is  as  perfect  as  the  Infinite 
One  could  lashion  it.     So  also  with  human  trees.     In- 
teriorly, many  men  and  women  are  better  than  they 
seem,  and  many  are  worse.     Still,  be  it  remembered, 
that  beauty  and  symmetry  is  natural  to  trees,  even  though 
storms,  and  snow,  and  fierce  winds  dismember  and  ren- 
der them  hideous  ;  so  also  virtue  and  goodness  is  natu- 
ral to  the  human  soul,  while  vice  and  deformity  are 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         123 

artificial  and  conditional  acquisitions.  A  man  may  lose 
an  eye,  leg,  arm,  be  disfigured  by  accident  or  disease 
to  an  extent  that  will  render  him  hideous  to  all  em- 
bodied beholders  ;  but  let  him  die,  or,  while  living,  be 
gazed  at  by  spiritual  beings,  and  his  legs,  arms,  eyes — 
the  whole  man  stands  revealed  in  all  his  true  propor- 
tions.* This  discovery  gave  me  joy,  indeed ;  for  I  had 
known  some  whose  disfigurements  had  pained  me  ex- 
ceedingly. No  maimed  forms  ascend  from  gory  fields 
of  battle  ;  no  crippled  people  inhabit  the  Soul-worlds. 
Thank  God  for  that !  True,  in  the  regions  midway, 
there  are  many  who,  being  insane,  or  immersed  in  phan- 
tasies, insist  on  appearing  as  they  were  on  earth,  or 
eyen  in  worse  plight ;  but  this  is  not  necessarily  so,  any 
more  than  the  grimaces  of  a  clown  or  mountebank  are 
the  natural  expressions  of  his  features.  By  this  time  I 
had  also  learned  that,  with  the  exception  stated  pre- 
yiously  in  reference  to  the  essences  of  things,  the  two 
worlds — earthly  and  spiritual — were  in  scarce  any  one 
thing  alike,  as  had  been  taught  by  those  whose  books 
upon  the  subject  I  had  lost  so  much  valuable  time  in 
reading — finely  written  and  eloquent  books,  truly — 
yet,  after  all,  I  found  them  now  to  be  filled  with  : 

"  Rich  windows  that  exclude  the  light 
And  passages  that  lead  to — nothing." 

My  experience  demonstrated  that  the  two  worlds  are 
not  equal,  continuous,  or  even  resemblant.  In  fact, 
they,  being  disparates,  many  failures  must  necessarily 
be  made  in  attempting,  in  the  present  state  of  the  lan- 
guages at  least,  to  convey  adequate  verbal  representa- 

*  A  man's  spiritual  form  may  be  cut,  shot,  or  slashed  through  ten 
thousand  times,  yet  never  a  bullet  or  knife  will  injure  him  ;  and  this  for 
reasons  already  set  forth  in  earlier  pages  of  this  book. 


124  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

tions  of  things  above  to  those  below — not  with  the  col- 
loquial and  literary,  nor  even  with  the  aid  of  modern 
philosophical,  scientific,  metaphysical  nor  theological 
technics  now  in  use  amongst  thinkers.  But  the  people 
are  longing  for  information  respecting  the  soul's  condi- 
tion subsequent  to  its  departure  from  the  rudimental 
scene  ;  they  want  to  know  what  a  soul  is,  where  it  goes, 
how  it  gets  there,  and  what  are  its  environments  thereaf- 
ter ;  consequently  the  essay  to  impart  the  required  in- 
formation must  be  made,  even  at  the  risk  of  adding  to 
the  hundred  failures  already  made.  The  word  vast,  for 
instance,  when  I  apply  it  in  the  description  about  to  be 
given,  is  not  to  be  understood  in  the  sense  of  enormous- 
ness,  but  in  a  different  one  altogether.  "Well  then,  in 
a  short  time,  the  side  of  the  sphere  yielded  to  the  ap- 
plied force,  and  broke  completely  in  two  from  top  to  bot- 
tom, and  the  two  sides  instantly  thereafter  resolved  them- 
selves into  a  vast  archway — vast  in  beauty,  grandeur, 
color,  form  and  symbolic  meaning.  Toward  the  invit- 
ing passage  thus  presented,  as  if  impelled  by  an  invisi- 
ble, but  powerful  force,  I  slowly  moved  involuntarily. 
Upon  reaching  it,  the  entire  sphere  seemed  to  draw 
into  me.  I  stepped  over  the  threshold ;  turned  to  look 
at  it — but,  lo  !  it  had  vanished. 

This  taught  me  a  lesson.  I  saw  that  if  one  chose  to 
do  so,  he  might,  while  on  earth,  and  in  the  Middle  State, 
draw  his  sphere  within  him,  and  lie  concealed  in  the 
deeps  of  his  own  being,  unreadable  by  any,  save  God 
and  the  dwellers  of  the  Soul-world.  This  is  effected  at 
first  by  strong  efforts  of  the  will, — (both  Napoleons  are 
illustrative  instances), — which  soon  becoming  a  habit, 
is  effected  by  the  soul  mechanically.  '  At  first,  upon  find- 
ing myself  alone,  and  my  sphere  absorbed,  I  could  not 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  .        125 

comprehend  the  celestial  magic  by  means  of  which  it 
was  effected.  No  opportunity,  however,  was  then  af- 
forded for  investigations  of  the  mystery,  for  a  crowd  of 
new  marvels  rolled  on  me,  in  such  quick  succession, 
that  all  my  soul  became  at  once  deeply  engaged.  My 
vision  was  clear,  distinct  and  far-reaching,  and  thou- 
sands of  objects  existed  upon  all  sides  to  attract  it.  The 
scene  was  the  realization  of  the  fairest,  brightest  Ar- 
cadie  of  which  wrapt  poet  ever  dreamed.  Hundreds  upon 
hundreds  of  the  most  beautiful  of  human  creatures  that 
imagination  ever  pictured  were  there,  in  all  the  glory 
of  ^  fete  in  Heaven.  Not  a  line  of  care  or  sorrow  traced 
its  course  upon  a  single  cheek  or  brow  of  the  vast  mul- 
titudes who  thronged  the  glades  and  gardens  of  that 
wondrous  realm.  It  was  the  actuality  of  the  fairest 
ideal  of  earth's  noblest  poet,  and  something  more  ;  for 
there  was  a  nameless  something  about  it  that  earth  can 
never  give.  Magnificent  and  lofty  trees,  the  movement 
of  whose  very  leaves  was  sweetest  music  ;  streams  of 
living  water,  whose  ripples  flashed  back  ten  thousand 
magic  hues  of  loveliness,  to  a  stately  but  unmoving  Sun 
in  the  mid-heaven  ;  flowers  of  rare  conformation,  whose 
colors  and  fragrance  put  earthly  roses  to  the  blush,  un- 
folded their  glory-cups  to  God's  bright  sentinel,  and 
praised  His  name  in  incense-offerings ;  bowers  of  shrubs, 
resplendent  meadows,  stately  groves,  adown  the  sylvan 
glades  of  which  scores  of  merry  children  trooped,  and 
soul-wed  lovers  wandered,  were  a  few  of  the  things 
upon  which  I  gazed  in  a  raptness  whereof  poets  may 
conceive,  but  which  to  colder  souls  will  be  mysteries 
for  long.  Splendid  palaces  towered  in  the  distance, 
while  near  at  hand,  on  the  green  banks  of  many  a  sing- 
ing brook,  numberless   cottages  gemmed  the   scene. 


126  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

Even  animals  were  there — some  of  familiar  and  well- 
known  forms,  some  of  new  and  singular  shape  and  pe- 
culiar grace.  Birds — rare-birds,  of  the  most  brilliant 
plumage,  played  amidst  the  trees,  and  warbled  songs  of 
strange  melody  and  meaning.  Such,  and  a  thousand 
other  things  beside,  not  one  of  which  1  had  ever  ima- 
gined to  exist,  were  constituents  of  the  scene  upon  which 
my  eye  now  rested  for  the  first  time.  Taken  as  a 
whole,  the  entire  vivorama  was,  in  its  nature  and  ef- 
fect, at  that  time,  incomprehensible,  and  at  first  some- 
what oppressive ;  but  this  latter  feeling  was  very  ephem- 
eral, and  gave  place  to  a  delight,  at  once  pure,  deep 
and  unalloyed. 

When  this  scene  first  burst  upon  me,  my  attitude  was 
one  of  unmingled  surprise,  and  I  retained  it  all  the  while 
my  soul  was  drinking  in  the  glory.  Casting  my  eyes 
groundward,  the  vision  rested  upon  an  opake,  cloud-like 
soil ;  and  while  inwardly  wondering  whether  the  soil 
was  really  what  it  seemed  to  be,  or  not,  I  heard  my 
name  called  in  well-remembered  tones.  Turning  has- 
tily, I  found  the  sounds  came  from  a  grove  hard  by, 
whence  three  persons  were  seen  approaching  me.  They 
drew  nearer,  and  I  had  no  difficulty  in  recognizing  one 
of  the  comers  to  be  Nellie.  I  knew  her  by  her  general 
air,  not  from  the  appearance  of  her  person ;  for  that  was 
entirely  changed,  and  no  longer  appearing  a  mere  child, 
she  looked  to  have  reached  the  happy  medium  state 
wherein  the  girl  just  begins  to  be  the  woman.  She  was 
very  pretty  when  she  had  assumed  the  status  of  a  child, 
but  now  she  fairly  blazed  with  a  beauty  most  transcend- 
ent. By  her  side  moved  a  young  and  noble-looking 
man,  yet  one  around  whom  there  floated  an  atmosphere 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         127 

of  Power,  Will,  and  Intenseness,  that  inspired  me  at  first 
with  something  very  akin  to  awe. 

His  garb  was  decidedly  oriental,  and  became  his  fea 
tares  wonderfully,  while  at  the  same  time  it  imparted  a 
freedom  and  grace,  that  added  to,  instead  of  detracting 
from  his  dignity.  Observing  that  I  scrutinized  his  ap- 
parel, he  smiled,  and  glanced  sidewise  at  my  own.  I 
did  the  same,  and  it  flashed  upon  me  instantly  that  my- 
self, instead  of  being  habited  after  the  fashion  of  the 
Occident,  I  to  others  must  present  the  appearance  of  a 
sultana  of  the  ancient  East.  Again  my  eye  met  his, 
and  in  that  meeting  there  was  a  mingling  too,  for  I  felt 
and  knew  that  he  was  mine,  and  I  his  own  ;  that  we 
two  were  henceforward  to  be  as  one — for  a  period  at 
least,  if  not  forever.  Poor  me — I  did  not  then  know 
how  long  ■  forever  '  is.  On  earth,  in  love  affairs,  the 
term  means  two  months,  more  or  less.  It  stands  for  a 
longer  period  here,  yet  does  not  include  the  categories 
of  all  the  eternities — quite.  I  had  forgotten  that  states 
constitute  the  marks  of  duration  in  the  Soul-worlds,  and 
not  the  tickings  of  a  clock  ;  but  so  inveterate  is  the 
force  of  habit  and  ideal  associations,  that  at  first  it  was 
almost  impossible  to  predicate  sequences  upon  anything 
else  than  lapse  of  time,  or  to  dissociate  the  memories  of 
the  past,  and  the  menstruum  of  the  events  whereof  they 
are  the  shadowy  records,  from  the  realities  of  the  then  pre- 
sent, and  the  action  of  the  New  Principia  operative  in  the 
Soul-world.  Besides  this,  I  had  been  theretofore  deeply 
tinctured  with  the  folly-essence,  so  much  of  which  has 
been  distilled  by  modern  eolists,  and  would-be  philoso- 
phers, to  addle  the  brains  of  sensible  people,  and  to 
dilute  what  little  of  common  S3nse  themselves — the 
eolists — might  chance  to  possess.     I  had  with  thousands 


128  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

of  others  believed  that  the  doctrine  of '  eternal  affinities ' 
was  true ;  and  that  every  one  would  somewhere  meet 
with  a  congenial  partner,  in  whose  society  all  the  com- 
ing cycles  of  Time  would  be  joyously  passed.  I  have 
outgrown  that  folly  long  since.  The  doctrine  is  a  false 
one  for  this  brief  reason.  God  alone  is  infinite.  No 
human  being  is  infinite,  save  in  capacity  for  acquire- 
ment ;  therefore  the  human  soul  must  be  fed  by  that 
alone  which  is  superior  in  its  nature,  at  every  stage  of 
its  growth,  progress  or  unfoldment ;  for  which  reason 
no  one  soul  can  forever  supply  the  demands  of  another. 
No  two  souls  develope  in  equal  or  parallel  lines,  or  at 
the  same  rate,  for  which  reason  one  must  outgrow  its 
affinities  for  another ;  besides  which  marriage  in  the 
Soul-world  is  an  entirely  different  institution,  as  to  its 
nature,  condition,  purpose,  result  and  effect,  to  what  it 
is  on  earth.  Lust  and  passion,  selfish  interests,  and  ten 
thousand  other  things  pertain  to  marriage  on  the  earth, 
which  enter  not  at  all  into  that  of  the  loftier  stages  of 
human  existence.  On  earth,  at  best,  love  and  affection 
are  plebeian.  In  the  Soul-worlds  they  are  imperial ! 
In  the  former  these  things,  go  begging — in  the  latter, 
never.  On  earth  the  person  loving  often  embalms  the 
loved  one  in  his  or  her  own  sphere,  and  then  clings  to 
the  worthless  thing  thus  infiltrated,  thus  loving  the  self 
and  not  another.  Being  therefore  all  on  one  side,  there 
is  no  mutuality.  Such  is  not  the  case  in  the  Sunny 
Land! 

The  glowing  son  of  the  Orient  drew  near  to  me,  and 
I  to  him.  Our  spheres  touched  ;  they  blended — and  in 
an  instant  I  knew  more  of  what  love  and  tenderness 
really  meant,  than  in  all  the  long  years  I  had  lived 
before. 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         129 

When  first  gazing  on  my  reflected  image  in  the  floor- 
mirror,  I  had  suspected  the  nature  and  fervor  of  the 
regal  passion  ;  but  now,  as  he  touched  me — as  our 
spheres  blended,  and  strange  thrills  went  bounding  and 
dancing  through,  every  avenue  of  my  being,  I  realized 
that  not  one  half  of  the  reality  had  ever  been  imagined, 
even  in  a  remote  degree. 

Among  people  of  the  higher  orders  in  human  society, 
the  testimony  of  the  '  hear-says '  is  not  regarded  as  being 
of  the  most  satisfactory  or  convincing  kind.  This  book 
and  those  which  are  to  follow  it,  is,  and  will  be,  ad- 
dressed only  to  those  who  think  and  feel  for  themselves; 
are  intended  for  those  who  can  pierce  through  the  mere 
formalism  of  narrative  and  statement,  to  the  solid  prin- 
ciples underlying  them.  And  for  this  reason,  therefore, 
have  I  forborne  to  repeat  many  strange  and  wonderful 
things  told  me  by  -him  who  now  stood  at  my  right  side 
notwithstanding  that  such  repetitions  would  be  deeply 
interesting  to  those  people  who  believe  they  have  im- 
mortal souls,  but  are  not  quite  certain  of  that  fact.  It 
is  better  to  tell  what  I  saw,  felt,  learned  and  experi- 
enced, than  to  relate  what  others  told  me. 

I  may  remark,  en  passant,  that  the  sentence  '  stood 
by  my  side '  appeared  to  be  well  founded  ;  for  although 
I  knew  my  comrades  to  be  spirits,  yet  they  were  to  me 
quite  as  really  and  palpably  human,  as  was  the  mother 
at  whose  dear  breast  I  drew  in  life  many  a  long  year 
ago. 

Mention  has  been  made  of  the  fact  that  knowledge 
comes  to  a  person  in  the  higher  life,  just  in  proportion 
to  that  person's  fitness  for  its  reception,  the  Use  in 
the  great  economy  which  it  will  subserve,  and  the  Good 
that  jt  will  do.     I  was  now  in  a  condition  to  be  taught, 


130         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

and  therefore  the  doors  of  the  soul's  knowledge-cham- 
bers were  swung  wide  upon  their  hinges,  so  to  speak, 
and  into  them  the  following  answers  flowed  naturally 
and  sweetly,  in  response  to  self-propounded  questions 
concerning  all  that  had  transpired  since  my  emerge- 
ment  from  the  interior  of  my  personal  into  the  general 
sphere  of  that  portion  of  the  immense  Soul!world  where- 
in I  now  found  myself.  It  has  already  been  stated,  and 
understood  by  the  reader,  that  the  sphere  in  which  the 
memoramic  tableaux  moved  across  its  diameter,  was  the 
personal  out-surrounding  of  the  individual.  Precisely 
the  same,  with  the  exception  of  being  on  a  vastly  gran- 
der scale,  was  this  new  Soul-realm  whereof  I  had  be- 
come an  inhabitant.  The  fact  is,  I  had  been  in  it  from 
the  dawn  of  the  second  hour  of  my  disembodiment,  only 
that  the  opacity  of  my  vision  and  the  walls  of  my  sphere 
had  prevented  me  from  realizing  it,  just  as  a  person  with 
nebulous  eyes  is  unaware  of  the  glories  of  a  landscape 
in  the  midst  of  which  he  stands,  alongside  of  a  friend 
whose  eyes  are  clear  and  good,  and  whose  soul  fairly 
dances  with  rapture  as  he  scans  the  sea  of  loveliness, 
which  is  all  shut  out  from  the  other. 

All  truths  go'in  couples.  I  had  just  discovered  one, 
and  its  mate  very  soon  thereafter  appeared.  It  was  this : 
What  I  had  thought  to  be  an  attempt  to  break  down 
the  walls  of  my  circumvallated  sphere,  prove  now  not 
to  have  been  the  work  of  another,  but  was  the  result  of 
the  operation  of  a  natural  law  of  the  soul — that  of  In- 
tromission ;  but  which  law  does  not  act  until  after  cer- 
tain others  have  effected  peculiar  changes  in  the  indi" 
vidual — just  as  grace  and  resignation  succeed  the  tumult 
and  agony  of  repentance  and  remorse.  This  law  of  in- 
tromission finds  its  humble  analogy  in  the  grub  and 


DEALINGS  WITH   THE   DEAD.  131 

subsequent  gold-winged  butterfly  ;  and  also  in  the 
chick,  whose  tiny  bill  perforates  its  hard  surrounding 
stone-and-mortar  sphere — for  it  batters  and  pecks  at 
the  sides  of  its  prison-shell  and  cell  when  the  process  of 
incubation  is  nearly  finished,  whereupon  the  bird  en- 
ters upon  a  new  phase  of  existence  ;  and  so  also  does 
the  human  soul,  when  its  period  is  completed.  All  Na- 
ture is  a  system  of  births. 

These  things  are  stated  and  these  principles  laid 
down,  in  order  to  undeceive  those  who  have  accepted  as 
true  the  many  crude  and  materially  defective  hypotheses 
purporting  to  come  from  'Royal  Circles'  in  the  Soul- 
world,  through  scores  of  modern  eolists.  My  design  is 
to  show  the  rightly  dying  what  they  must  expect  when 
rightly  dead.  True,  there  is  an  increasing  number  of 
Spiritualists  and  others  who  accept  the  revelations  of 
mediums  on  the  principle  interdum  stultus  bene  loqui- 
tur ;  yet  there  are  others  who  accept  nine-tenths  of 
what  purports  to  come  from  the  worlds  beyond,  merely 
because  ofits  claim.  Truth  will  bear  its  own  weight; 
if  not  now,  then  in  the  course  of  coming  time  ;  still  it  * 
is  ever  and  always  best  for  every  one  to  reason  well  on 
every  proposition  or  statement  offered  as  coming  from 
the  world  of  spirits — this  book's  contents,  of  course,  in- 
cluded. Amongst  other  notions,  which  along  with  my 
co-believers  on  earth  I  had  imbibed,  was  that  which 
declares  the  Spirit-land  to  be  a  fixed  revolving  zone — 
•  a  sort  of  second  edition  of  the  earth  and  its  adjuncts. 
I  had  expected  to  find  my  last  home  on  one  of  those 
aerial  belts,  occupying  space  just  as  a  town  or  city  does. 
What  an  error  !  No  two  antipodal  things  can  be  more 
unlike — for  I  found  that  all  the  untold  magnificence 
that  now  lay  outspread  before  me  was,  just  as  my  former 


132         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

sphere,  but  the  general  out-creation,  -elimination  or  pro- 
jection from  the  countless  hosts  of  beatified  and  radi- 
ant souls  who  dwell  together  and  create  their  own 
scenery  and  surrounding,  just  as  a  man  creates  chateaux 
en  espagne,  only  that  in  this  latter  he  exists  forever  on 
the  outside — in  the  former,  dwells  within  them.  In 
other  words,  the  realm  whereof  I  was  an  inhabitant 
was  not  physical  in  any  sense,  nor  were  any  of  its  sub- 
jects or  objects  ;  neither  were  they  phantasmal,  but 
were  spiritual,  in  the  sublime  sense  of  that  much  abused 
term  ;  and  although  not  permanant  or  fixed,  as  is  a 
town  on  earth,  yet  were  none  the  less  true  and  real. 

In  order  to  better  comprehend  what  sort  of  a  place 
is  that  world  wherein  I  met  Nellie  and  mine,  it  will  be 
well  if  the  reader  remember  that  everything  save 
thought  is  perishable.  For  instance  you  have  a  thought 
of  a  pink  satin  dress,  made  up  in  a  peculiar  style  ;  your 
father  has  a  thought  of  a  new  cottage,  complete  in  all 
its  parts  ;  your  brother  invents  a  new-modelled  car- 
riage for  your  mother's  use  ;  while  your  farmer  invents 
a  new  building,  which  will  serve  at  once  for  carriage- 
house  and  barn — and  all  four  of  you  forthwith  proceed 
to  realize  your  several  ideals  ;  and  in  a  month  the  new 
barn  stands  upon  the  brookside,  the  new  cottage  peeps 
forth  from  its  bower  of  elms,  the  new  carriage  rolls 
along,  and  in  it,  clad  in  your  pink  satin,  you  enjoy  a 
ride  with  the  dear  old  mother.  Three  days  thereafter 
the  cottage  and  barn  catch  fire,  and  the  dress  and  car- 
riage become  ashes,  and  so  do  all  your  patterns  and 
models  ;  yet  your  thoughts  are  living,  still  fresh  as 
'  ever,  and  all  that  is  necessary,  is  for  all  four  of  you  to 
once  more  embody  them  in  material  garb,  and  in  an- 
other month  a  stranger,  having  seen  the  first  and  not 


DEALINGS   WITH  THE   DEAD.  133 

knowing  of  the  catastrophe,  would  swear  that  what  now 
he  beheld  was  the  same  formerly  so  much  admired — 
and  he  would  be  right.  The  ideas  are  the  same,  albeit 
the  material  raiment  is  not.  John  Doc  is  still  John 
Doc,  whether  in  rags  or  riches  j  why  not,  then,  John's 
thought  be  the  same  ? 

It  will  be  well  to  remember  that  God  is  a  Thinker — 
that  the  vast  material  universe  is  the  visible  result  of  a 
single  effort  of  a  single  faculty-organ  of  the  Deific  brain, 
and — tremendous  thought ! — that  faculty-organ  will  yet 
make  myriads  of  new  movements,  each  one  followed  by 
results  still  more  stupendous  and  magnificent  than  the 
vast  array  of  starry  suns  which  now  light  up  the  Halls 
of  Silence  and  of  Space !  Again  :  the  spiritual  or  rather 
the  thinking  part  of  man  is  all  there  is  of  permanency 
about  the  human  being.  His  body  is  the  sport  of  Death, 
and  his  aid- de-camp  Disease  !  but  his  soul  can  never  be 
touched  by  the  former,  nor  forever  be  harmed  by  the  lat- 
ter !  for  soul  is  not  to  be  permanently  injured  by  any 
power  subservient  to  the  infinite  God.  All  there  is  of 
man  is  his  thought-power  ;  the  Think  is  himself.  By 
this  we  know  him  ;  and  he  who  gives  forth  most  of  him- 
self, if  he  be  bad,  does  the  most  injury  to  the  species  and 
the  world.  If  he  be  good,  such  an  one  lives  longest  in 
men's  hearts,  on  historic  page,  and  in  the*  traditions  of 
the  race. 

The  Spiritual  Universe !  What  a  mighty  concep- 
tion !  And  yet,  even  that,  grand  as  it  is — for  all  the 
material  globes  of  space,  chained  together,  are,  after 
all,  but  a  mere  little  island  floating,  like  a  bottle,  upon 
the  crest,  of  a  single  wavelet  of  the  Infinite  Sea ! — yet, 
even  that  Spiritual  Universe  itself,  with  its  amaz- 
ing soul  realms,  made  up  of  countless  Soul-systems, 


134  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

each  of  which  latter  is  composed  of  the  blended  spheres 
of  innumerable  millions  of  separate  dualities — even  all 
this — all  these,  I  say,  are  but  the  result  of  a  single  effort 
of  another  distinct  faculty-organ  of  the  gee  at  brain  ; 
yet  even  this  grand  result  will  be  surpassed  by  every 
one  of  the  myriad  efforts  that  same  faculty-organ  is  des- 
tined to  put  forth.  And  when  it  shall  have  moved  more 
times  than  there  are  stars  in  the  sky,  grains  of  sand 
upon  the  sea-shores,  leaves  in  the  forests,  or  aspirations 
in  the  human  soul — greater  than  all — the  end  will  not 
be  even  foreshadowed,  nor  God's  laboratory  one  whit 
exhausted!  Man  himself,  generically  speaking,  wher- 
ever localized  beneath  the  bending  dome  of  the  imperial 
Heaven,  is  but  the  result  of  another  single  effort — of 
another  single  organ  of  faculty.  [For  although  man  is 
nidulated  in  and  developed  to  personal  distinctness 
through  matter,  yet  the  very  nature  of  the  thinking 
principle  at  once  forbids  the  assumption  that  it  sprung 
from  any  combination  of  material"  essences,  howsoever 
subtle  they  may  be,  and  afc  once  explodes  the  spiritual- 
istic doctrine  that  matter  continues  on  into  spirit.  No  ; 
soul  is  discreted  from  matter  by  a  gulf  so  wide  that  an 
infinite  vaccuum  exists  between  the  coarsest  soul  and 
the  most  sublimated  etherial  vapor  that  ever  resulted, 
or  ever  will  result,  from  molecular  attrition  or  chemical 
resolution.  Individual  monads — all  men  and  women — 
are  scintillas  or  parts  of  this  third  great  thought  of  the 
Mighty  Thinker,  God  ;  they  are  corruscations  from  The 
Over-Soul,  while  Matter  is  constituted  of  etherial  ema- 
nations from  God's  Infinite  Body.""]     Now  every  exist- 


*  I  regret  that  the  limits  adjudged  to  tnis  volume  will  not  permit 
an  amplification  of  this  part  of  our  subject.  It  must  abide  the  next 
book. — Author. 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  135 

ence  represents  a  thought  of  Deity  ;  so  also  man  thinks 
himself  in  his  actions,  and  fills  the  world  with  his 
thoughts,  variously  clothed ;  some  in  iron,  steel,  wood, 
paper,  ivory,  cloth,  palaces,  engines,  ships,  houses,  parks, 
gardens,  and  so  on  ;  so,  also,  after  his  disembodiment, 
will  he  surround  himself  with  soul-created  forms,  whose 
aspect,  shape  and  texture  depends  altogether  on  the 
cleanliness  and  purity  of  the  loom  wherein  these  mental 
fabrics  are  woven.  The  sole  difference  between  the 
creations  of  the  mortal  and  post-mortem  artificer  is, 
that,  instead  of  arraying  them  in  gross  or  coarse  ma- 
terial, as  on  earth,  he  in  the  Soul-worlds,  fashions  the 
garments  of  such  stuff  as  thoughts  themselves  are  made 
of ;  or,  to  give  it  still  clearer,  each  thought  possesses  an 
inherent  vitality  of  its  own,  as  also  form,  proportion, 
and  coherence.  Thus,  if  an  engineer  thinks  a  locomo- 
tive, all  he  has  to  do.  in  order  to  impress  his  thought 
on  others,  is  to  give  it  a  suit  of  iron,  brass  and  steel  to 
wear,  and,  lo  !  all  .the  world  hails,  and  triumphantly  ac- 
knowledges the  worth  of  the  offspring  of  his  deathless 
soul. 

Just  as  soon  as  the  man  has  placed  metallic  parts 
where  only  mental  ones  were  previously,  all  the  people 
see  it,  feel  it,  know  it  to  be  an  engine — that  is  to  say, 
an  incarnate  thought  of  a  certain  engineer. 

Now,  take  notice  all  ye  who  think,  that  the  combined 
glories  of  the  separate  sections  of  the  great  Soul-world 
are  constituted  of  the  general  projections  of  the  disem- 
bodied order,  or  section  of  an  order,  that  compose  the 
society  around  whom  the  sphere  is  seen.  There  are 
myriads  of  these  societies ;  and  no  one  belonging  to  so- 
ciety A  can  enter  the  sphere  of  society  B,  notwithstand- 
ing both  may  belong  to  the  same  general  order.     True, 


136         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

people  can  visit  each  other  there  as  well  as  anywhere 
else.  But  visitors  may  not  be  equals  for  all  that.  In 
each  society  will  be  found  those  who  love  and  affect 
birds  ;  and  just  as  sure  as  he  or  she  has  a  bird  in  the 
soul,  just  so  sure  will  that  bircl  be  born  thereof,  and  be- 
come, to  all  intents  and  purposes  (except  begetting  its 
kind)  a  veritable  bird.  Others  love  trees,  rivers,  castles, 
brooks,  hills,  dales,  vales,  vineyards,  gardens,  groves, 
cottages,  palaces,  mountains,  animals,  and  so  on,  through 
an  interminable  list,  and  interminable  combinations  of 
what  that  list  may  contain. 

Whatever  be  the  ideal  of  a  man  or  community,  just 
so  will  be  the  out-sphering  thereof.  Thus,  Mohammed 
(and  the  Orientals  generally)  loved  woman,  for  the 
sake  of  the  sense-gratifications  she  was  found  capable 
of  imparting.  Accordingly,  when  his  soul  was  trans- 
figured, it  went  directly  to  that  section  of  the  Soul- 
world  where  were  congregated  those  like  unto  him- 
self ;  and,  when  he  came  back,  he  fired  his  partizans 
with  the  deepest  and  wildest  enthusiasm  ever  known 
on  earth,  by  telling  them  that  the  women  of  Paradise 
were  fairer  than  the  full  moon,  more  lovely  than  the 
dawn,  and  that  every  mother's  son  of  the  faithful  should 
be  rewarded  there,  for  all  their  earthly  sorrows,  by  the 
absolute  possession  of  the  moderate  number  of  seventy 
thousand  houris. 

Mohammed  was  not  a  liar  nor  an  impostor ;  he  told  what 
he  believed  to  be  truth.  His  houris,  like  the  birds  and 
beasts  just  spoken  of,  were  out-creations  of  the  sensual- 
istic  mind  of  the  sphere  into  which  he  rode  on  the  sad- 
dle of  Al  Borak.  Every  man  or  woman's  mind  is  an 
empire,  and  the  higher  the  position  each  occupies  upon 
the  plane  of  the  Harmonead,  the  more  extensive  is  the 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  137 

domain  over  which  they  hold  imperial  sway.  The  same 
laws  which  govern  an  individual,  also  rule  a  commu- 
nity ;  for  a  man  is  a  man  only  to  such  extent  as  lie 
prophecies  and  represents  something  higher  and  better 
than  the  present  status.  The  observance  of  law,  by 
persons  and  en  masse,  may  be  voluntary  or  habitual,  or 
not.  This  being  understood,  it  is  no  marvel  that  the 
things  resident  in  the  general  mind  should  be  objectified 
therearound  as  in  the  case  of  a  single  person,  nor  that 
in  the  former,  as  in  the  latter  case,  the  things  thought 
of  should  be  present,  as  well  as  those  which  are  purely 
symbolic  and  representative  of  the  general  state,  the 
general  love,  the  general  affections  and  aspirations  of 
the  general  mind. 

As  this  and  similar  light  flowed  into  my  soul,  that 
soul  involuntarily  thanked  the  Giver  for  such  amazing 
exhibitions  of  his  loving  kindness  and  careful  provi- 
dence. I  could  now  understand  many  things  that  were 
before  quite  mysterious,  and,  amongst  others,  why  Nel- 
lie and  Mine  had  at  first  shown  themselves  to  me  under 
the  guise  of  Youth  and  Age.  It  was  to  all  the  quicker  win 
my  esteem  and  confidence,  each  of  which  are  prime  ele- 
ments both  of  friendship  and  love.  Previous  to  my 
change,  I  had  often  tried  to  analyze  this  last-named  sen- 
timent or  passion  (as  you  will),  as  it  exists  amongst  the 
people  of  the  world.  The  result  of  that  analysis  was, 
1  Love  is  a  mixed  passion ;  its  orbit  is  elliptical — friend- 
ship is  at  one  of  the  foci,  and  lust  at  the  other.'  Now, 
however,  as  my  enraptured  vision  swept  the  plains  of 
immortality,  I  found  that  in  the  Soul-world  it  was  some- 
thing more,"  but  that  its  essential  earthly  character  re- 


*  In  the  succeeding  volume,  the  reader  will  be  carried  into  a  new 


138  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

mained  the  same  in  the  Middle  States — or  merely  spiritu- 
al kingdom.  With  penetrating  glance  I  swept  the  fields 
of  earth,  and  the  result  was  a  complete  conviction  that 
ninety-five  one-hundredths  of  that  which  goes  by  love's 
tender,  gentle  name,  was  a  compound  of  three  constitu- 
ents— Parentalism,  Amative  desire,  and  the  softer  ele- 
ment, Friendship.  Hence  sex,  and  what  comes  of  it  on 
earth,  is  at  best  but  the  most  coarse  and  external  ex- 
pression of  a  great  soul-law,  which  can  only  fully  de- 
monstrate itself  in  those  who  are  in  no  one  respect  abnor- 
mal or  diseased.  Sex  really  means  more  than  people 
even  remotely  suspect.  In  the  Soul-world  it  does  not 
serve  the  same  purposes  as  on  earth.  There,  sex  is  of 
mind — on  earth  it  is  of  the  body  mainly.  I  had  sup- 
posed it  to  be  a  fixed  physical  principle  ;  and  so  it  is, 
but  it  is  also  something  more — for  in  the  higher  realms 
of  human  being,  where  everything  expresses  itself  as  it 
really  is,  and  passes  at  its  true  value,  it  is  found  that 
many  who,  as  if  by  accident,  had  worn  the  physical 
characteristics  of  one,  were  really,  at  soul,  of  the  oppo- 
site sex.  For  instance,  Male  means  Energy,  Wisdom, 
Knowledge,  Power,  Creation,  Use — Female  is  the  syno- 
nym of  Music,  Beauty,  Love,  Purity,  Harmony,  Good. 
Now  let  two  such  meet  in  the  Soul-world,  and  if  they 
are  adapted  to  each  other,  their  spheres — nay,  their 
very  lives — blend  together  ;  the  result  of  which  is  mu- 
tual improvement,  purification,  gratification,  enjoyment, 
and  happiness — which  state  of  bliss  continues  until  new 
unfoldings  from  within  shall  unfit  them  for  the  further 
continuance  of  the  union  ;  whereupon  there  is  a  mutual 

Soul-region,  of  which  Love  is  the  key  ;  and  then  the  world  will  see 
what  a  vast  deal  of  knowledge  exists  of  which  man  has  never  heard. 

Pub. 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         139 

separation — not  because  they  love  each  other  less,  but 
some  other  one  the  more  ;  and  that  other  one,  be  it 
male  or  female,  is  certain  to  be  ready  for  the  reception 
of  the  new  love.  There  is  no  jar,  no  ill-feeling,  no  dis- 
cord about  it.  Some  of  these  unions  may  last  for  what 
to  man  may  seem  to  be  long  ages,  but  what  the  final 
result  will  be  I  have  not  space  here  to  mention. 

It  often  happens  that  human  bodies  are  so  diseased > 
and  by  mal-practice  so  distorted  from  their  true  uses, 
that  pure  and  genuine  love  cannot  express  itself — 
wherefore  it  soon  becomes  a  sealed  mystery,  and  Pas- 
sion usurps  Love's  holy  throne.  He  or  she  whose  nerves 
have  become  ruined,  either  by  grief  or  excess,  opium, 
rum,  tobacco,  Mesmerism,  Oppression,  Neglect,  and 
things  of  that  order,  can  never  taste  the  ineffable  joys 
of  love  that  attend  on  those  who  in  such  regard  are 
healthy. 

Love  has  become  either  a  boyish  or  girlish  sentiment, 
else  a  sort  of  spasmodic  fever,  which  possession  speedily 
and  forever  chills. 

In  human  society  it  has  become  a  purchasable  com- 
modity. Women  sell  themselves  for  gew-gaws— for  a 
home — to  escape  parental  tyranny  and  unjust  espionage. 
Men  buy  them,  and  think  they  are  gaining  love— not 
realizing  that  joys  or  pleasures  bought  at  any  price  are 
not  the  realities  for  which  the  bargain  was  made,  but 
only  counterfeits,  which  all  too  soon  demonstrate  their 
own  worthlessness.  Buy  a  woman  !  purchase  a  man  ! 
bargain  for  love !  How  much  is  Sunshine  worth  "a 
quart  ?  How  does  Goodness  sell  by  the  barrel  ?  It  is 
very  easy  for  either  man  or  woman  to  buy  each  other's 
garments,  but  the  souls  beneath  them  must  be  won  by 
wooing.     Physical  possession  never  yet  satisfied  a  soul, 


140  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

and  never  will.  Soul  naturally  shrinks  from  scales, 
weights,  measures,  and  yard-tapes  ;  and  it  quite  as  in- 
tensely despises  all  protestation.  Why  ?  Because  pure 
love  is  undemonstrative.  Demonstration  proceeds  from 
volition,  but  love  flows  from  a  fountain  altogether  back 
of  will.  People  may  be  proud  of  their  property,  but  the 
human  can  have  no  true  deep  joys,  save  such  as  spring 
from  love,  pure,  strong,  earnest,  spontaneous  and  recip- 
rocal. Whatever  is  not  thus  based  is  distasteful  to  the 
soul  in  its  higher  moods.  Joys  of  a  tumultuous  charac- 
ter, such  as  spring  from  impulsiveness  and  passion,  are 
both  short-lived  and  exhaustive  ;  and  the  pestilent  brood 
of  anger,  jealousy,  hatred,  disgust  and  trouble,  ever  and 
always  follow  in  their  train — priests  of  Misery,  prime 
ministers  of  Evil  !  On  the  other  hand,  pure  manly, 
womanly,  human  love,  is  recuperative,  re-creative — is  a 
virtue-exhilarant,  tonic  of  good,  vice-dispeilant,  and 
health-promotive  ;  while  contentment  of  heart,  peace  of 
mind,  security,  trust,  calmness  and  serenity,  are  its  at- 
tendant ministers.  God,  who  made  us,  well  knows  that 
there  is  more  of  good  than  evil  in  our  hearts,  by  virtue 
of  our  ancestry — Nature  and  Himself ;  yet,  for  His  own 
grandly-purposed  end,  He  permits  us  all  to  wade  to 
Heaven  through  the  malarious  swamps  of  hell ! — permits 
us  all  to  experiment  and  suffer,  in  order  that  we  may 
grow  powerful  and  strong,  and  thus  be  fitted  for  the 
tremendous  destiny  that  awaits  all  who  wear  the  human 
form  on  the  thither  side  of  Time.  People  feel  before 
they  think,  and  the  act  of  one  single  impulsive  moment 
not  seldom  enshrouds  an  entire  life  in  gloom.  Plave 
mercy,  therefore — always  !  Mere  thinking  without  feel- 
ing is  quite  as  bad — nay,  worse  ;  for  it  freezes  up  the 
fountains  of  the  soul !     Something  will  grow  and  bios- 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE   DEAD.  141 

som  even  on  an  arid  desert ;  but  the  iceberg  is  never 
gladdened  by  the  presence  and  growth  of  one  green 
thing  upon  its  crystal  sides — not  even  moss,  So  with 
soul !  It  is  bad  to  sin  from  impulse,  but  far  worse  to 
do  wrong  from  settled  purpose.  There  are  two  classes 
of  persons  who  err.  Those  who  do  so  from  no  evil  in- 
tent at  heart,  soon  vastate  their  load,  and  become  resi- 
dents of  the  Soul-world  ;  those  who  sin  from  the  head, 
pass  into  the  Middle  State  and  become  the  infesting  de- 
mons of  modern  spiritual  mediums. 

The  deepest  wrongs  of  human  existence  are  those 
against  the  inward  soul  and  sense  of  right.  Illustra- 
tion :  Whatsoever  earthly  couple  shall  assume  the 
dreadful  responsibility,  not  only  of  imbittering  each 
other's  lives,  but  of  incarnating  a  family  of  souls  in  dis- 
cordant bodies,  inevitably  fashion  a  hell-sphere  for 
themselves  in  the  Middle  State,  whence  they  shall  not 
go  forth  until  the  uttermost  farthing  is  paid.  The  re- 
cent partial  uplifting  of  the  veil  separating  earth  from 
regions  beyond,  has  had  the  effect  of  removing  the 
sense  of  accountability  from  the  minds  of  a  great  many 
people,  who,  having  conversed  with  the  dead  through 
raps  and  tips,  and  hearing  no  valid  accounts  of  a  burn- 
ing lake  of  literal  fire  and  brimstone,  straightway  fall 
to  laughing  at  the  devil,  and  snap  their  fingers  at  the 
bare  idea  of  hell.  If  they  could  but  realize  that  Devil 
means  Badness,  and  Hell  is  the  synonym  of  suffering 
and  self-inflicted  torture,  the  laugh  would  not  be  quite 
so  loud  and  long,  nor  the  finger-snapping  near  so  fre- 
quent, as  at  present. 

Such  persons  reason  very  superficially — in  this  re. 
spect  following  the  lead  of  one  of  their  self-elected 
Prophets,  a  Eegent  of  Hell  itself,  and  Earthly  Prime 


142         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

Minister  to  all  the  chief  fiends  of  the  Middle  States — 
and  leap  to  tlie  conclusion  that  all  a  man's  sins  are 
atoned  for  while  embodied — that  he  is  not  to  be  pun- 
ished at  all  after  death  ;  and  hence  they  cut  off  all  re- 
straining cords,  give  a  loose  rein  to  boasting  and  lying, 
and  solace  themselves  and  blind  others  with  the  absurd 
sophism  "that  'Whatever  is,  is  right7 — murder,  robbery, 
eoncubinage,  divorcing  two,  three,  or  a  dozen,  for  the 
sake  of  obscene  dalliance,  ami  semi-legal  infamy — are 
just  the  thing  to  rid  the  world  of  evil  and  make  society 
a  bond  of  fraternal  fellowship  !  And  such  a  system 
dares  to  call  itself  '  Spiritual/  '  Harmonial,  '  Reform- 
atory ' !  It  does.  But,  thank  God  !  the  days  of  Pseudo- 
Spiritualism,  in  whose  train  myriads  of  insanities, 
wrongs,  irreligious  of  all  pestilent  sorts,  non-immortal- 
ism,  and  a  host  of  importations  from  the  pit,  follow  as 
harlots  follow  an  army, scattering  death,  horror  and  de- 
vastation on  every  hand  !  Yes,  thank  Heaven  !  the 
false  will  soon  be  succeeded  by  a  true  and  godly  Spir- 
itualism ;  and  instead  of  being  possessed  and  obsessed 
by  the  maleficent  harpies  from  the  mid-region,  as  is  too 
often  the  case  now,  people  will  be  enlightened,  in- 
structed and  saved  from  ruin,  instead  of  being  plunged 
therein  ;  for  the  noble,  the  true,  the  religious  and  pure 
spirits,  from  realms  where  God's  presence  sanctifies  all 
hearts,  will  come  to  aid  man  in  his  hour  of  greatest 
need.  The  true  spiritualization  will  bring  peace  on 
earth  and  good  will  among  men,  instead  of  hatred  be- 
tween couples,  and  absurd  envyings  and  jealousies 
amongst  mediums  and  believers  ;  it  will  effect  the  de- 
struction of  all  spiritualistic  and  philosophic  pretence, 
the  current  sophistry  of  '  AU-rightism/  pretentious  cant 
and  mock  philanthropy,  whereof  so  much  now  floats 


'-    ■'  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         143 

upon  the  surface  of  the  singular  sea  called,  falsely, 
1  Spiritualism.'  A  man  is  no  more  a  Spiritualist  be- 
cause he  believes  in  physically  demonstrated  immor- 
tality, than  a  child  is  a  horse  because  born  in  a  stable. 

If  people  cannot  be  Spiritualists  without  submitting 
to  the  pestilent  control  of  wretches  from  the  Middle 
State,  or  without  losing  conscience,  virtue,  and  moral 
cleanliness,  they  had  better  let  the  whole  subject  alone, 
and  rest  as  contented  as  may  be  with  the  faiths  and 
creeds  bequeathed  by  their  ancestors.  It  will  not  do  to 
meddle  with  things  so  mysterious  as  Spiritualism,  in  its 
nature,  influence  and  results,  unless  perfectly  fortified 
in  God,  with  a  strong  and  holy  purpose  and  a  resolufe 
and  unbending  will. 

As  I  gazed  out  upon  the  surrounding  glories  of  my 
new  world,  I  could  not  forbear  or  repress  a  desire,  if 
possible,  to  take  one  glance  at  those  who  yet  dwelt  in 
infamy,  although  disembodied.  This  wish,  though  a 
silent  one,  was  perceived  by  him  who  stood  near  me. 
Sadly,  mournfully,  he  gazed  down  into  my  soul,  made 
no  reply  in  words,  but  slowly  placing  me  between  him- 
self and  Nellie,  who  had  been  joined  by  one  to  whom 
she  was  very  dear  indeed,  directed  our  steps  towards 
the  pleasant  grove  before  alluded  to.  Passing  swiftly 
through  this,  we  soon  came  to  its  outer  verge,  from 
which,  to  my  utter  astonishment,  we  could  look  down 
into  a  very  gulf  of  horrors,  as  if  from  the  edge  of  a 
frightful  precipice.  I  knew  that  I  stood  upon  the  bor- 
ders of  the  Middle  State.  Believing  that  more  is  to 
be  gained  by  descriptions  of  the  good  and  excellent  than 
by  exciting  the  horror  of  deformity,  I  forbear,  in  this 
introductory  volume,  to  recount  the  terrors  of  the  awful 
Hell  of  the  vicious  and  the  self-damned  soul. 


144         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

Suffice  it  that  I  beheld  scenes  of  lust,  insanity,  de- 
bauchery, and  all  vileness,  sufficiently  dreadful  to  appal 
the  stoutest  heart  of  any  sane  one  who  dwells  in  the 
same  awful  phantasies,  insanities  and  evils.  Around 
the  heads  of  those  who  wandered  up  and  down  its  noi- 
some lanes  and  alleyways,  were  wreaths  of  twining, 
writhing  serpents,  instead  of  crowns  and  coronets  of 
light.  There  were  many  who  believed  in  literal  hells 
of  fire,  and  such  were  surrounded  by  spheres  of  flame, 
and  therein  must  burn  and  suffer  so  long  as  the  fearful 
phantasy  shall  last,  and  till  they  be  redeemed  by  self- 
effort  .  Drunkards,  libertines,  gamblers — all  evil  things 
and  persons  were  there,  along  with  atheists  and  other 
intellectual  sinners.  Qn  an  eminence  in  the  midst  of 
the  deepest  and  most  fearful  hell,  I  saw  the  exact  image 
of  one  of  earth's  so-called  great  philosophers;  and  it 
was  given  me  to  know  that  the  man  there  represented 
was  doomed,  when  his  life  on  earth  shall  be  ended,  to 
expiate  his  terrible  offences  against  God,  nature,  reli- 
gion, and  liis  own  conscience,  and  his  fellow-men,  by 
sufferings  too  terrible  to  be  adequately  described. 

"  Men  know  the  right,  and  well  approve  it  too  ; 
They  know  the  wrong,  and  yet  the  wrong  pursue."^ 

So  with  the  philosopher.  The  man  knew  better  than 
he  taught ;  and  when  he  dies,  unless  he  shall  repent, 
his  doom  is  a  hell  whose  terrors  are  indeed  fearful ;  nor 
will  he  be  able  to  emerge  thence,  before  the  cries  of  his 
scores  of  thousands  of  deluded  victims,  some  of  whom 
have  been  driven  to  vice,  crime,  insanity  and  suicide  by 
his  execrable  teachings,  shall  be  changed  into  appeals 
to  God  in  his  behalf. 

One  of  the  punishments  after  death  consists  in  atoning 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         145 

for  one's  bad  and  baleful  influence  while  on  earth ;  and 
the  more  extensive  this  has  been,  the  more  fearful  the 
penalty  self-inflicted  therefor.  The  man  who  has  taught 
millions  that  God  is  a  revengeful  being  ;  that  He  ever 
stands  ready  to  hurl  ruin  and  destruction  on  the  world ; 
to  rain  literal  fire  and  brimstone  on  the  earth,  and  thus 
frighten  people  into  woe  and  insanity,  must  abide  the 
consequences,  and  in  the  world  beyond  be  compelled  to 
face  the  dreadful  music  himself  may  have  evoked.  And 
so  with  others,  let  their  influence  be  what  it  may.  Eter- 
nal justice  rules  the  destiny  of  mankind;  and  sooner  or 
later  its  behests  must  and  will  be  accomplished. 

I  turned  in  affright  from  the  horrible  scene,  but  not 
without  reaping  a  mental  treasure  from  what  I  had 
beheld,  both  of  the  Soul-world  and  the  Middle-state.  It 
will  be  remembered  that  I  had  asked  certain  questions, 
which  were  not  responded  to.  These  questions,  and 
others  had  been  uppermost  in  my  mind  all  along,  and 
now  as  our  faces  were  once  again  turned  toward  the 
bright  scenes  of  the  Soul-world,  -I  realized  that  neither 
it  nor  its  fearful  antipodes  were  absolute  fixtures  or 
fixities.  The  human  soul  is  kaleidescopic.  The  scenes 
it  forever  conjures  up  before  it  from  out  its  mighty  deeps, 
and  by  which  it  is  surrounded,  are  constantly  and  for- 
ever changing,  no  matter  whether  its  locality  be  on 
earth,  in  the  mid-region  of  the  great  world's  atmosphere, 
on  the^confines  of  the  two  great  states,  embodied  or 
free  ;  or  whether  it  be  a  dweller  in  the  city  of  divine 
souls,  the  law  is  the  same  and  incessantly  operative. 
Change  is  written  on  all  things  ;  and  although  in  es- 
sence soul  can  never  alter,  yet  its  moods  and  phases 
constantly  do,  else  Hell  would  be  a  permanency,  Earth 
stand  still,  and  Heaven  itself  grow  monotonous.    In 


146         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

accordance  with  this  principle,  therefore,  no  scene  in 
the  Soul-world  is  a  permanency,  but  as  soon  as  one  has 
produced  all  the  joy  it  can  to  those  from  whom  it  is  an 
outgrowth  or  projection,  it  changes,  but  ever  toward 
the  higher  and  more  resplendent. 

One  question  there  was,  of  great  weight  and  import- 
ance,^ which  I  asked  of  my  soul,  and  to  which  a  response 
after  a  time  flowed  in.  It  was  this  :  Do  spiritual  beings 
live  eternally  as  distinct  entities,  or  are  they  after  a 
time  absorbed  into  Deity,  as  the  higher  Brahmins  and 
other  orientalists  maintain  ?  The  reply  to  this  was  : 
Reasoning  from  what  any  human  being  knows,  no  matter 
how  lofty  he  may  be  in  intellect,  the  decision  arrived  at 
must  be  conjectural  at  best ;  for  whether  we  are  to  be 
forever,  can  only  be  known  to  Him  who  taketh  no  one 
into  his  counsels.  But  reasoning  from  what  we  already 
know  concerning  the  nature  of  soul,  mind,  thought,  and 
capacity,  the  inference  is  plain  that  no  absolute  absorp- 
tion will  ever  take  place,  but  that  the  double-unit  man 
will  forever  preserve  his  distinct  and  marked  person- 
ality. 

Are  idiots  immortal  ?  Answer — All  that  is  born  of 
human  parents,  all  beings  who  took  their  external  forms 
through  the  agency  and  channels  of  the  male  brain, 
nerves,  prostate  and  testes,  and  the  female  matrix,  are 
necessarily  immortal. 

Question— But  animals  have  been  impregnated  by 
male  brutes  of  the  human  species,  and  human  females 
have  borne  offspring  to  brutes — if  human  medical  testi- 
mony, and  the  confessions  of  parties  implicated  are  to 
be  credited  ;  but  whether  such  cases  have  or  have  not 
occurred,  suppose  it  were  to  take  place,  would  such  off- 
spring, whether  begotten  of,  or  by  an  animal,  one  of  the 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         .  147 

parents  being  undoubtedly  human,  be  immortal  ?  An- 
swer— As  monsters,  no  !  Idiots,  both  of  whose  parents 
arc  human,  are  essentially  immortal.  Idiotcy  is  but 
another  name  for  weakness ;  and  a  monad  having  once 
put  forth  its  powers  sufficient  to  build  itself  a  full  hu- 
man body,  no  matter  how  imperfect,  must  necessarily  put 
forth  more  of  its  inherent  energies,  if  not  in  one  world 
or  sphere,  then  in  another,  in  the  nurseries  of  the  Soul- 
world  ;  and  as  it  grows  strong  it  gradually  approaches 
the  point  of  self-ness — the  Ego  will  be  attained.  It  is 
only  a  question  of  time  and  condition.  Not  so  with 
semi-brutes. 

Question — But  women  have  conceived  from  human 
union,  yet  owing  to  some  accident  or  fright,  have  brought 
forth  monsters.  Are  these  immortal?  Answer — No. 
thing  that  is  not  human  is  immortal,  in  the  sense  of 
self-poisedness.  and  self-presence.  If  these  monsters 
are  cerebrally  human,  and  their  malformation  be  merely 
limb-distortion,  then  that  thing  is  destined  to  super- 
mundane existence. 

Question — But  human  bodies,  though  brainless  ones, 
have  been  born  of  women  ? — Well,  they  are  not  immor- 
tal. Violent  chemical  actions  en  utero  has.  destroyed 
the  conditions  of  successful  monad -gestation,  while  per- 
petuating the  vegetative  fcetal  life.  Of  course  the 
thing  is  soulless. 

Question — But  the  monad  had  begun  to  put  forth  its 
energies.  What  then  has  become  of  it ;  is  it  forever 
blotted  out  of  being  ?  Answer — There  stands  a  human 
female,  but  the  body  you  see  is  not  herself.  The  soul  is 
her,  not  the  flesh  it  wears.  The  monsters  treated  of  in 
medical  works  are  but  the  product  of  body — not  of  soul. 
In  order  to  an  immortality,  the  germ  or  monad  must 


148         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

pass  from  the  spiritual  atmosphere  interflowing  the 
material  or  oxygenic  one,  into,  the  nostrlfe  and  brains 
and  soul  of  a  male,  thence  through  the  parts  and  pro- 
cesses already  mentioned.  Now  the  human  form  born 
brainless  is  of  the  nature  of  an  abortion  ;  and  the  ques- 
tion arises,  are  abortions  immortal  ?  The  answer  is  : 
A  human  germ,  when  first  planted  at  the  gestative 
center,  undergoes  a  variety  of  rapid  and  extraordinary 
changes,  assuming  successively  the  typal  forms  of  all 
the  lesser  orders  of  animated  nature,  from  the  jelly-fish 
to  the  perfectly  human.  In  some  women  these  pro- 
cesses are  pushed  with  extraordinary  vigor  and  speed, 
so  that  at  the  end  of  a  very  short  period  the  foetus  pos- 
sesses all  the  requisites  for  permanency  except  physical 
vigor.  If  then  abortion  takes  place,  the  nursling  is 
provided  for  and  grows  to  comparative  perfection,  in 
the  Soul-worlds  of  course.  Such  beings  constitute  a 
distinct  and  separate  order  of  souls,  and  are,  by  the 
great  soul  law,  condemned  to  come  to  earth,  and  by 
association  and  affiliation  with  embodied  persons, 
through  magnetic  rapport,  experience  the  pleasures  and 
pains  of  self- development.  These  spirits  will  be  treat- 
ed of  hereafter,  when  I  come  to  write  concerning  "  The 
Realm  of  the  Fay." 

But  to  our  subject.  If  abortion  take  place  before 
the  monad  has,  in  the  womb,  put  forth  its  powers  to  a 
degree  wherein  the  human  characteristics  rise  above  all 
the  lower  forms,  before  its  shape  is  perfectly  formed, 
then  immortality  does  not  follow. 

But  what  becomes  of  the  monad,  the  germ,  the  human 
point,  the  divine  spark,  the  pivot  ?  Answer — It  re- 
mains with  and  in  the  foetal  body  till  dissolution  and 
decay  shall  set  it  free.     Whereupon  it  floats  again  in 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  149 

the  spiritual  atmosphere,  until  it  is  inhaled  by  a  human 
male  again,  whereupon  it  is,  perhaps,  and  perhaps  not, 
sent  forth  upon  its  mission  once  again. 

Question — We  sometimes  see  double  men,  as  the  twins 
of  Siam  ;  and  others  still  more  remarkable,  as  one  body 
with  two  heads ;  are  there  two  souls  also  ?  Answer — 
Every  true  human  brain  contains  a  true  and  independ- 
ent human  soul.  All  men's  brains  contain  vast  numbers 
of  monads ;  hundreds  of  these  seek  incarnation  on  every 
occasion,  but  only  one  or  two,  very  rarely  three  or  more, 
succeed  at  that  time !  The  rest,  those  that  fail,  float 
about  as  before. 

Question — At  what  period  of  life  do  men  begin  to  at- 
tract these  monads  ?  Answer — At  puberty,  owing  to  pecu- 
liar chemical  changes  in  the  physical  constitution  •  and 
females  are  capable  of  receiving  and  nursing  them  when 
a  corresponding  change  has  taken  place  in  them. 

Question — Can  impregment  occur  without  physical 
contact  ?  Ansiver — Yes ;  by  aid  of  artificial  means,  a 
monad  may  be  successfully  introduced,  and  life  ensue  ; 
but  a  very  weak  and  imperfect  life  it  must  be,  of  ne- 
cessity. 

Having  once  entered  upon  this  grand  subject,  I  deter- 
mined to  make  the  series  of  questions  nearly,  if  not 
quite,  exhaustive ;  and,  therefore,  continued  my  inquiries, 
receiving  answers  as  before — for,  be  it  again  repeated, 
no  well-meaning  human  being  can  possibly  ask  a  ques- 
tion, the  answer  to  which  is  not  recorded  somewhere 
upon  the  secret  tablets  of  the  soul.  In  response  to  further 
interrogatories,  many  grand  truths  came  flowing  forth 
into  the  halls  of  consciousness ;  and,  amongst  other  things, 
I  learned  that  the  purpose  of  sex  on  the  earths  was  pure 
cohabitation,  in  proper  human  and  God-sanctioned  mar- 


150  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

riage,  with  prolification,  or  soul-incarnation,  as  the  re- 
sult. But  I  also  saw  that  this  purpose  was  accom- 
plished on  earth,  and  that  that  use  of  sex  was  ended  at 
death  ;  that  it  absolutely  does  not  exist  in  the  Soul- 
world.  But  in  the  Middle  State,  as  a  terrible  phan- 
tasy, lust  and  all  other  abominations  abound ;  and  I 
saw  that  one  great  cause  of  the  moral  looseness  of  thou- 
sands of  sensitive-nerved  people  on  earth  resulted  from 
the  infernal  possessions  and  obsessions  of  their  persons 
by  delegations  from  those  realms  of  darkness  and — to 
all  but  themselves — unmitigated  horror.  A  sensitive 
man  or  woman — no  matter  how  virtuously  inclined — 
may,  unless  by  prayer  and  constant  watchfulness  they 
prevent  it,  and  keep  the  will  active  and  .the  sphere  en- 
tire, be  led  into  the  most  abominable  practices  and  hab- 
its. Many  of  these  denizens  of  the  mid-regions  of  space 
are  insane — in  the  higher  sense  all  are  so — and  to  them 
lust  and  its  gratifications,  dram-drinking,  and  mal-prac- 
tice  of  all  sorts,  is  a  reality,  although  to  others  they  are 
cruel  phantasies.  The  belief  of  these  unfortunates  re- 
sults from  their  former  habits,  voluntary  self-illusion, 
and  their  old  memories  and  associations,  and  they  are 
devil-kings,  gamblers,  and  keepers  of  seraglios — some- 
thing on  the  same  principle  that  a  straw-crowned  maniac 
is  to  himself,  and  other  of  his  ilk,  a  regal  and  potent 
brow-gemmed  monarch — a  species  of  insanity  generally 
the  result  of  personal  excess  and  congenital  disease  ; 
and  one,  also,  that  it  is  very  difficult  to  cure,  either  in  the 
Spirit-world  or  anywhere  else,  for  the  reason  that  no 
man  can  be  healed,  morally  or  physically,  from  or  by 
external  applications ;  the  recreative,  work  must  be 
commenced  and  carried  on  from  within,  or  not  at  all. 
Are  the  destinies  of  all  human  beings  parallel  ?    An- 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  151 

swer — No.  On  earth  there  arc  seven  distinct  orders 
of  mankind,  and  so  there  is  beyond  it.  It  is  diffi- 
cult to  name  these  last  without  resorting  to  Orien- 
tal terms  ;  but,  as  these  will  serve  to  convey  something 
of  the  truth,  I  will  attempt  to  classify  them  as  follows  : 
1st,  Spirits — Angels;  2nd,  Seraphs;  3rd,  Arsaphs; 
4th,  Eons  ;  5th,  Arsasaphs  ;  6th,  Arch-Eons  ;  7th,  The 
Antarphim. 

Is  this  all  ?  No.  For  the  highest  of  the  last  five 
orders  ultimate  in  a  Perfection  whereof  the  human  mind 
cannot  conceive.  They  become  Deions,  a  supreme  or- 
der of  creative  intelligences  and  energies,  whose  power, 
in  combination,  is  only  second  to  that  of  the  Infinite 
God  Himself.  These  constitute  the  towering  hierarchy 
of  the  supernal  Heaven.  Their  number  is  infinite.  Nor 
hath  ever  a  man  born  on  earth  reached  nearer  their 
glorious  state  than  the  second  on  the  list,  (Seraphs). 

They  are  creative  energies,  you  say  ;  if  so,  where  is 
the  field  of  their  activities  ?  Answer — The  Amorphous 
Universe,  circumvolving  the  material  jcreation ! 

Is  space  then  bounded  ?     Yes ! 

By  what  ?    I  have  just  answered. 

But  what  proof  is  there  that  this  tremendous  state- 
ment is  correct?  Answer — The  nebulous  masses  re- 
vealed by  the  telescope  ;  masses  constantly  being  ladled 
out.  so  to  speak,  of  the  immense  sea  of  nascent  matter, 
by  the  awful  powers  to  whom  that  mighty  task  is  as- 
signed, and  by  those  same  powers  changed  or  condensed 
into  fire-mist,  fire,  cometary  bodies,  suns,  planets,  life- 
bearing  earths ! 

Then  man  is,  in  very  deed,  almost  a — God  ? — You 
have  said ! 


152         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

He  creates  worlds,  and  becomes  the  deity  of  his  cre- 
ation ? — Man  is  a  godling  ! 

These  were  a  few  of  the  answers  that  came  to  me,  as 
we  turned  from  the  precipice,  and  moved  once  more 
toward  the  sylvan  grove ! 

Measured  by  earthly  clocks,  I  had  been  but  two  hours 
in  the  Soul-world,  but  felt  that  I  had  endured  for  cen- 
turies. 

I  soon  discovered  the  reason  of  this.  There  is,  as 
said  before,  a  great  sympathetic  chain  extending  from 
soul  to  soul,  over  and  through  all  past  time,  and  up  to 
G-od  likewise ;  and  on  the  plane  of  this  great  Sympathia, 
at  every  point,  some  one  stands  ;  that  some  one  can  scan 
the  past,  the  present,  and  the  future,  just  in  proportion 
to  his  or  her  unfolding  ;  and  the  true  blending  of  that 
soul  with  some  other,  puts  this  last  in  possession  of  all 
the  other  may  have  attained.  I  loved  and  was  loved 
by  one  who  stood  high  thereon,  and  the  intuitions  of  my 
soul  were  quickened  by  his  presence. 

Purity  is  the  price  of  power.  *  *  *J  *  Years  of 
earth  have  passed  since  that  auspicious  opening  of  the 
inner  life.  Much  greater  and  higher  knowledge  has 
since  flowed  into  my  soul,  portions  of  which  will,  ere 
long,  be  given  to  the  world  by  the  same  pen  which  in- 
dited every  line  this  book  contains — save  the  preface. 
At  present  I  am,  with  Mfoie,  endeavoring  to  gain  wis- 
dom, as  hand  in  hand,  heart  bound  up  in  heart,  and  soul 
blended  with  soul,  we  together  are  happily,  joyously, 
climbing  up  the  sky. 

c.  t. 


PART  SECOND. 

THE  DISENTHRALMENT. 

The  Dcke.  Good  Palmer,  is  thy  tale  so  wondrous  strange  ? 
Palmer.  Else  had  I  not  sought  auditor  so  wise. 

'Tis  the  best  legend  ever  yet  was  heard, 

Unless  I  mar  it  sadly  in  the  telling.  . 

Something  very  unusual  has  taken  place  within  a 
little  while ;  what  it  is  can  scarcely  be  told,  can  only 
dimly  be  understood,  and  still  more  vaguely  conveyed 
to  others.  This  change,  this  mysterious  something, 
pertains  not  to  body,  but  to  soul,  to  the  inner  person  ; 
and  while  the  flesh-form  is  apparently  as  ever,  the 
strange  inhabitant  thereof  is  conscious  that  it  is  not  as 
of  yore ; — nay,  has  passed,  as  it  were,  within  these  few 
latter  days,  into  a  new  mood  or  phase  of  its  wonderful 
being. 

But  a  little  while  ago,  the  world — this  stony  world — 
was  far  dearer  and  more  highly  prized  than  it  is  to- 
day ;  and  this  for  the  reason  that  not  now,  as  then,  does 
the  airy  dweller  of  the  body-house  look  out  upon  it  as 
of  yore  ; — no  longer  glances  over  its  mountains,  vales 
and  salt  seas  from  the  windows  near  the  ground. 

It  grew  suddenly  tired  of  the  weight,  and  gloom,  and 
lead-heavy  air — air  so  light-distorting,  which  circulates 
5- 


154         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

just  above  the  surface — just  high  enough  to  be  breathed 
by  those  who  move  along  the  by-lanes  of  Vanity  Fair  : 
and  the  Soul  took  a  key  from  its  girdle,  and  therewith 
unlocked  the  door  which  alone  had  prevented  its  ascen- 
sion to  the  upper  story  of  the  Temple  ;  and  it  saw  the 
steps  leading  toward  the  Dome — and  they  were  broad,  in- 
viting, well  carpeted  and  lighted.  Up  the  steps  it  went, 
and  presently  reached  a  lofty  apartment,  within  which 
there  fell  a  flood  of  glorious  effulgence  ;  and  this  light 
was  clear,  and  pure,  and  pearly  white  ;  and  it  streamed 
into  the  apartment, — this  upper  chamber  of  the  soul, — 
through  a  glorious  arched  window,  toward  which  it 
drew  near,  and  lo  !  all  the  world  looked  different,  as 
did  the  stars  that  hung  out  upon  the  night,  and  the 
beautiful  pale  moon,  and  God's  rockets — the  meteors 
— so  beautiful ! 

There  was  an  occupant  of  that  chamber,  one  who  had 
been  slumbering  on  a  couch  therein  for  many,  many 
years  ;  but  the  grating  of  the  door  upon  its  rusted 
hinges  and  the  rattle  of  the  keys  disturbed  this  sleeper, 
and  woke  it  up. .  The  being  was  a  female — so  very  beau- 
tiful that  I  loved  her  from  the  first,  for  she  was  very 
beautiful,  and  came  to  me,  threw  her  fair  white  arms 
.  about  my  neck,  kissed  my  forehead  tenderly,  told  me 
that  she  had  slept  too  long,  pent  up  in  that  chamber  all 
alone. 

And  I  loved  her  dearly,  because  she  was  so  very 
pure,  so  virginal,  so  fresh  and  innocent,  and  withal  so 
very  beautiful !  I  asked  her  name.  "  It  is  Devotion," 
she  replied.  Then  folding  me  to  her  bosom,  her  tender, 
loving  bosom,  she  gently  drew  me  nearer  to  the  win- 
dow, pointed  down  toward  the  ground,  and  said  :  "  The 
air  is  thick,  and  dank,  and  dark,  and  dense,  and  very 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         155 

murky.  It  is  difficult  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  bright 
orb  of  the  Heavens,  or  to  feel  his  genial  ray  down  there, 
in  that  thick  and  heavy  air  ;  but  here,  up  here,  the 
atmosphere  is  purer,  and,  if  you  look  well  and  steadily 
through  that  pane,  you  will  see  the  Spirit  of  God  as  He 
moves  across  the  mighty  deep  I"  And  I  looked.  A 
great  Glory  was  at  that  moment  marching  across  the 
whole  bright  sky — a  mystic  but  a  nameless  glory — and 
the  night  was  very  grand  ;  the  emotions  it  awoke  were 
very  soft  and  tender,  so  that  tears  welled  up  at  the 
sight  from  the  heart  of  Devotion,  and  suffused  her 
beautiful  features.  Oh,  magic  tears  !  One  pearly  drop 
fell  on  me,  and  lo  !  the  icebergs  of  my  soul  were  melted, 
and — I  wept ; — and  the  waters,  as  they  flowed,  swept 
away  many  an  obstacle  that  had  thereunto  impeded  and 
obstructed  my  vision,  and  soon  I  was  able  to  see  the 
Spirit  of  God  in  everything  that  He  had  made.  Seeing 
which,  the  Beautiful  Maiden  gently  chided  me  for  so 
long  delaying  the  coming  up  the  stairs  and  the  entering 
of  that  wondrous  upper  chamber  whose  windows  look 
out  upon  the  world  below  and  toward  the  God  above. 
And  she  told  me  how  happy  I  might  have  been  in  the 
years  agone,  had  not  the  lower  strata  of  the  atmosphere 
hurt  my  vision,  and  if  I  had  unlocked  the  great  door 
sooner.  I  asked  the  lovely  one  to  reveal  the  methods 
by  which,  when  I  descended  again,  the  recollection 
of  the  present  golden  hour  might  never  be  effaced. 
Sweetly  she  answered  :  "  All  that  is  necessary  is  to 
look  toward  the  Dawn,  and 

"  When  the  dance  of  the  Shadow  at  daylight  is  done, 
And  the  cheeks  of  the  Morning  are  red  with  the  Sun  ; 
When  at  eve,  in  his  glory,  he  sinks  from  the  view, 
And  calls  up  his  planets  to  blaze  in  the  blue, 
Then  pour  out  thy  spirit  in  prayer, 


156  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

"  When  the  beautiful  bend  of  the  Bow  is  above, 
Like  a  collar  of  light  on  the  bosom  of  Love, 
When  the  moon  in  her  brightness  is  floating  on  high, 
Like  a  Banner  of  silver  hung  out  in  the  Sky, 
Then  pour  out  thy  spirit  in  prayer. 

"  In  the  depths  of  the  darkness  unvaried  in  hue, 
When  shadows  are  veiling  the  breast  of  the  blue, 
When  the  voice  of  the  Tempest  at  midnight  is  still, 
And  the  Spirit  of  Solitude  sobs  on  the  hill, 
Then  pour  out  thy  spirit  in  prayer. 

"  In  the  dawn  of  the  morning  when  Nature's  awake, 
And  calls  up  her  Chorus  to  chaunt  in  the  brake, 
7Mid  the  voice  of  the  echo  unbound  in  the  woods, 
'Midst  the  warbling  of  streams,  and  the  foaming  of  floods, 
Then  pour  out  thy  spirit  in  prayer. 

"  Where  by  the  pure  streamlet  the  pale  lily  bends, 
Like  Hope  o'er  the  grave  of  affectionate  friends, 
When  each  star  in  the  sky  to  the  bright  fancy  seems 
Like  an  island  of  light,  in  an  ocean  of  dreams, 
Then  pour  out  thy  spirit  in  prayer. 

"  When  the  Tempest  is  treading  the  paths  of  the  deep, 
And  the  Thunder  is  up  from  his  cloud-cradled  sleep, 
When  the  Hurricane  sweeps  o'er  the  earth  in  his  wrath, 
And  leaveth  the  footprints  of  God  in  his  path, 
Then  pour  out  thy  spirit  in  prayer." 

And  I  prayed. 

Since  that  day*  Devotion  has  been  the  solace  of 
many  and  many  a  weary  hour  ;  for  when  grief  and 
pain  and  sorrow  with  their  train  afflict  the  soul,  it 
remembers  the  key-note  and  the  key,  and  that  glorious 
upper  chamber,  with  the  great  Glory  that  swept  the 
Heavens,  even  from  the  rising  of  the  sun  to  the  going 
down  thereof. 

These  were  the  circumstances  which  brought  about 

*  Feb.  4th?  1861, 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  157 

the  change.  It  gives  a  singularly  sweet  and  placid 
conviction  that  my  long,  long  night  of  pain-life  is 
nearly  past,  the  agony-hours  nearly  at  their  close  ;  and 
so,  feeling  now  emboldened  and  nerved  to  the  task,  the 
fulfilling  of  a  design  long  entertained,  I  determined  to 
mould  into  the  following  form  certain  of  my 

DEALINGS   WITH   THE   DEAD. 

In  presenting  what  follows,  wisdom  dictates  the  nar- 
rative style  rather  than  any  other,  for  the  reason  that  it 
is  better  calculated  to  entertain,  interest,  and  instruct 
the  reader. 

Not  a  few  people,  nor  those  of  the  least  informed 
class  either,  entertain  many  serious  doubts  as  to  the 
nature,  per  durability,  immortality,  and  eternality  of  the 
human  soul.  Of  the  last,  probably  no  one  in  the  body 
can  ever  be  absolutely  certain  and  assured  ;  but  of  the 
former,  all  may  be  ;  not,  perhaps,  by  means  of  what 
herein  ensues  concerning  the  points  named,  but  by  rea. 
son  of  that  greater  knowledge  whereof  what  follows  is 
the  key.  I  present  the  subjoined  as  seriously  as  could 
anything  be.  To  my  soul  the  truths  here  revealed, 
transcribed  from  the  experimental  knowledge-tablets  of 
that  very  soul  itself,  are  priceless,  and  worth  as  much 
more  than  what  people  generally  receive,  and  accept  as 
truth,  from  sources  whose  external  manifestation  is 
through  the  'Spiritualism7  of  the  dayras  these  last  are 
more  valuable  than  the  mere  guesses  at  the  truth  of  im- 
mortality, current  previous  to  the  advent  of  '  The  Fox 
and  Fish  Dynasty.' 

Some  six  hundred  and  fifty  years,  more  or  less,  before 
the  birth  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth — praises  be  to  his  name 
forever ! — in  the  thirty-fifth  Olympiad,  or  about  two 
thousand  five  hundred  years  ago,  there  lived  in  the  East 


158  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

a  famous  philosopher,  known  to  lis  through  history  as 
Thales,  the  Milesian  ;  and  there  is  no  doubt  but  that  he 
was  one  of  the  first,  if  not  the  very  first  man  of  great 
mental  rank  and  caliber,  who  publicly  taught  the  doc- 
trine of  human  immortality. 

*  Doubtless  the  same  general  train  of  reasoning  re- 
sorted to  by  Thales  was  nearly,  if  not  quite,  identical 
with  that  which  constitutes  the  basis  of  nearly  all  hu- 
man hope  to-day,  if  we  except  the  modern  '  Spiritual' 
theory,  which,  while  very  comforting  and  satisfactory 
to  great  numbers,  is  far  from  being  so  to  millions  more  ; 
for  there  are  quite  a  number  of  questions  which  a  doubting 
man  may  ask  of  those  who  predicate  an  hereafter  upon 
the  evidence  furnished  by  the  '  Spiritualism '  of  the  day, 
which  those  who  are  asked  are  not  able  to  clearly  and 
satisfactorily  answer.  To  many,  the  reasoning  of  the 
'  Spiritualists/  like  that  of  the  ancient,  amounts  to  "  It 
is  quite  possible  that  human  beings  are  immortal  f  and 
that  is  all.  Many  a  man  and  woman  are  dying  daily 
deaths  from  the  fearful  doubts  that  constantly  arise  as 
to  the  truth  of  the  Immortality  of  the  Soul ;  doubts,  too, 
that  will  still  insist  on  coming  up,  in  spite  of  the  start- 
ling phenomena  of  the  '  manifestations'  whose  origin  is 
attributed  to  disembodied  men  and  women ;  they  still 
leave  an  aching  void — a  void  which  I  am  about  to  at- 
tempt to  fill  ;  and,  I  believe,  successfully. 

After  the  great  Milesian,  came  other  philosophers — 
men  of  genius  and  intuition — who  had  dim  and  indis- 
tinct-glimmerings of  the  great  truth.  Feeling,  rather 
than  seeing,  that  there  must  be  a  life  beyond  the  body, 
they  strove  to  impress  their  convictions  upon  others  ; 
yet  the  sum  total  still  amounted  to  but  a  probability,  at 
best.     As  a  result  of  the  great  search  for  light  upon 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         159 

this  mighty  subject,  many  glimmerings  of  the  truth  were 
seen,  but  they  were  glimmerings  only.  By-and-by  came 
Plato  upon  the  stage  of  the  world's  theater.  He  pro- 
duced '  Phaado ' — a  great  work,  considering  the  times 
in  which  it  first  saw  the  light.  It  still  remains  so  ;  and 
yet,  so  acute  is  the  logical  faculty  of  the  people  of  the 
present  era,  that  even  that  work  fails  of  convincing* 
It  is,  view ed  by  the  modern  light,  far,  very  far  from  be- 
ing a  satisfactory  performance,  considering  the  immense 
importance  and  sublimity  of  the  theme  it  professes  to 
treat ;  yet,  nevertheless,  Plato  did  succeed  in  convinc- 
ing many  of  the  people  of  the  by-gone  ages,  as  well  as 
of  the  present,  that  he  had  indeed  struck  the  golden 
vein  at  the  bottom  of  which  the  wondrous  jewel  lies, 
and  in  establishing  a  crude  conviction  of  that  great 
truth,  which  the  present  century  will  doubtless  have  the 
supreme  honor  of  perfectly  demonstrating.  In  the  final 
conclusion,  to  which  the  world  will  shortly  come,  the 
author  of  these  pages  firmly  believes  that  the  elements 
herein  given  will  enter  as  integers — as  a  portion  and 
part  absolutely  essential  to  the  perfect  structure. 

Plato,  not  unlike  many  of  our  modern  savans,  seems 
to  have  been  sorely  troubled — not  so  much  in  proving 
the  immortality  of  the  soul,  as  in  assigning  it  a  proper 
habitation  after  death.  But  the  soul,  like  the  body, 
must  have  a  home,  he  thought,  and  so  he  concluded  to 
locate  that  home  within  the  boundaries  of  the  '  New 
Atlantis  Isle/  situated,  nobody,  not  even  the  great 
thinker  himself,  knew  where.  The  same  difficulty  pre- 
sents itself  to-day  ;  a  thousand  theories,  or,  more  prop- 
erly speaking,  hypotheses,  are  now  slfloat  on  the  surface 
of  the  general  mind,  concerning  the  locality  of  the 
Divine  City  of  Spirits — the  home  of  departed  souls. 


* 

160         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

The  great  majority  of  these  suppositions  are  too  mate- 
rial, crude,  shallow  and  baseless,  on  their  very  faces,  to 
even  challenge  the  attention  of  a  thinker  for  a  single 
moment ;  others  are  too  far-fetched  ;  and  not  one  of 
them  all  is  there,  but  presents  itself  in  the  face  of  a 
dozen  objections,  from  every  one  of  ten  thousand  ob- 
jectors. 

That  this  assertion  may  not  appear  groundless,  and 
seem  to  be  dictated  by  improper  reasoning,  let  us  merely 
glance  at  the  three  theories  held  by  the  people  who 
claim  to  know  most  about  the  matter — -'  Spiritualists*' 
One  of  the  lights  of  that  class  gravely  informs  us  that 
the  spiritual  world  is  located  quite  a  distance  on  the 
other  side  of  '  The  Milky  Way ;'  he  and  his  disciples 
affirm  that  spirits  can  and  do  come  back  to  earth  daily  ; 
that  our  desires  draw  them,  and  that  they,  being  there 
and  feeling  us  draw  them,  instantly  quit  the  land  of 
bliss,  and  flit  toward  us,  accomplishing  the  distance  in 
{  no  time  at  all  ;'  which  very  indefinite  period  we  may 
safely  assume  to  be  three  or  four  hours,  more  or  less. 
Now,  light  coming  from  the  nearest  fixed  star  at  the 
rate  of  two  hundred  thousand  miles  a  minute,  cannot 
reach  us  in  less  than  eighteen  years — while  light  from 
any  star  on  the  further  side  of  the  same  great  belt  of 
suns,  requires  a  period  of  time  too  vast  for  us  to  com- 
prehend, ere  it  can  gladden  our  eyes.  , 

The  Spirits'  dwelling,  according  to  this  school,  lies 
beyond  even  those  vastly  distant  orbs.  Supposing,  how- 
ever, that  it  exists  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  nearest 
star,  any  spirit  who  gets  here  after  a  journey  of  three 
hours,  must  travel  through  space  at  not  less  than  the 
rate  of  twelve  thousand  three  hundred  and  eighty-seven 
millions  of  miles  during  every  second  of  the  awful 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.°         161 


journey  ! — a  speed  that  would  annihilate  any  being  less 
than  God  himself.     What  an  idea  ! 

The  next  theory,  originated  and  advocated  by  the 
same  person*  is,  that  the  Spirits'  home  is  on  a  sort  of 
aerial  belt  circumvolving  our  globe.  Said  belt  is  fifty 
miles  thick ;  spirits  live  on  its  upper  surface,  which  is 
very  like  this  earth,  seeing  that  it  has  cities,  houses, 
streets,  waters,  oceans,  rivers,  trees,  beasts,  birds,  and 
reptiles.  At  the  poles  of  the  earth,  according  to  this 
same  self-dubbed  philosopher  and  his  '  school/  there  are 
certain  openings  or  large  holes,  through  which  the 
spirits  come  and  go  just  when  it  suits  them  so  to  do. 
When  they  depart  hence,  they  go  'head  up/  of  course  ; 
and  when  they  come  to  us,  they  must  approach  '  head- 
foremost,' or  with  their  feet  toward  their  home — a  very 
immodest  way  for  some  spirits  to  travel,  if  the  dignity 
of  their  sex  is  still  retained — and  a  very  undignified 
mode  of  traveling  for  the  philosophers  and  magnates 
who  so  often  talk  to  and  at  us,  through  the  lips  of  mod- 
ern eolists. 

This,,  like  the  former  theory,  is  unsatisfactory — but 
mainly  on  the  ground  of  its  gross  materiality,  for  it 
makes  the  second  life  but  a  new  editioiTof  the  first  one. 
Common  sense  must  reject  this  last.  Of  the  two,  the 
first  theory  is  incomparably  the  most  magnificent  and 
grand.  The  fault  is,  that  it  is  too  much  so  ;  for  it  re- 
moves us  at  one  leap  from  the  condition  of  humanity, 
and  at  once  endows  us  with  the  attributes  and  power 
of  veritable  gods. 

The  next  hypothesis  concerning  the  matter  is,  that 
this  world  (our  globe)  is,  and  must,  and  will  for  all  eter- 

*  A  man  who;  knows  most  when  fast  asleep,  and  then  knows  tut 
very  little. 


162  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

nitj  be,  the  abiding  place  and  scene  of  activity  of  all 
mankind,  who  ever  have  been  or  will  be  born  on  it, 
through  all  the  past  and  all  the  future  ages.  Accord- 
ing to  this  school  (if  I  may  so  dignify  it),  Spirits  are 
here  dwelling  amongst  us,  taking  note  of  all  things  that 
occur, — are  eating,  drinking,  and  doing  all  that  we  do. 

Now,  there  is  more  common  sense  and  reasonableness 
in  these  latter  notions  than  in  all  the  rest ;  for  of  the 
many  guesses  at  the  truth,  this  comes  nearest  to  the 
mark.  The  faults  which  this  theory  has,  are,  however, 
very  bad  ones  ;  for,  first,  it  materializes  the  soul ;  sec- 
ond, it  confines  it  here,  nor  even  permits  it  to  leave  its 
prison,  to  roam  the  starry  fields  ;  and,  third,  it  does  in- 
justice to  God  and  His  omnipotence,  inasmuch  as  it 
practically  doubts  His  providence,  limits  His  power, 
and  assumes  that  He  was  incompetent  to  provide  spir- 
itual homes  for  spiritual  beings,  and  was  compelled  to 
make  this  a  double  world.  If  a  spirit  occupies  any 
space  at  all,  then,  if  this  theory  be  true,  not  only  is  the 
surface  above  ground  one  compact  mass  of  Spirits,  but 
they  form  piles  extending  far  higher  than  our  loftiest 
mountains  ;  for,  since  men  have  begun  to  die,  they  have 
continued  to  pass  away  at  the  rate  of  scores  of  millions 
every  year  for  at  least  a  hundred  centuries. 

I  could  not  help  disposing  of  this  doctrine  by  means 
of  the  argumentum  ad  absurdum,  for  it  was,  and  ever 
will  be,  totally  unworthy  of  any  more  respectful  treat- 
ment ;  and  yet,  as  said  before,  it  contains  far  more  truth 
than  either  of  the  others,  as  will  very  shortly  be,  if  not 
already  herein  seen. 

People  who  lived  in  the  days  of  Plato,  Thales,  and 
the  great  men  of  the  olden  time,  could  not  have  the 
same  notions  that  we  have  ;  could  not  understand  many 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  1G3 

of  the  wonders  which  we,  in  this  age,  fully  comprehend. 
They  could  not  conceive  of  a  balloon,  railroad,  locomo- 
tive, steamship,  photo-picture,  or  telegraph,  for  the  very 
plain  and  simple  reason  that  the  human  brain  had  not, 
as  a  general  thing,  then  unfolded  many  of  its  wonder- 
ful and  mighty  powers.  Its  immense  capacities  were 
as  yet  nascent,  latent,  still.  True,  the  seeds  of  all  that 
it  has  since  proved  were  there,  but  in  embryo  only.  In 
other  words,  the  soul  had  not  the  requisite  brain-organs, 
through  which  it  could  familiarize  itself  with  all  or  any 
of  the  marvelous  things  just  enumerated.  So  now,  in 
these  days,  men  and  women  worry  themselves  a  great 
deal  concerning  the  locus  in  quo  of  their  fleshless  friends, 
about  the  Deity  or  no-Deity  question,  and  a  hundred 
others  of  the  like,  not  the  least  important  of  which  is 
that  concerning  the  nature,  origin,  and  final  destiny 
of  the  soul  itself.  Presently,  in  the  years  of  the  race, 
if  not  in  those  of  the  individuals  on  earth  to-day,  the 
requisite  brain-organs  will  be  developed,  the  proper 
function  of  which  shall  be  the  furnishing  of  the  soul 
with  what  it  wants,  in  order  to  take  notice  of.  and  com- 
prehend the  principles  underlying  its  own  existence, 
here  and  hereafter.  Till  then,  the  facts  it  sees  must  be 
admitted,  even  while  many  of  the  bases  of  these  very 
facts  remain  involved  in  impenetrable  mystery.  It  must 
take  many  things  for  granted — its  own  immutability  in- 
cluded— in  many  instances,  without  any  very  perfect  or 
intimate  hioivledge  of  the  why  ? — on  the  cogito,  ergo  sum 
principle. 

To  return  to  the  ancient  philosopher  :  It  may  be  re- 
marked that,  although  he  had  a  vague  notion  of  a  con- 
scious life  of  the  soul  subsequent  to  the  dissolution  of 
its  corporeal  investiture,  yet,  unquestionably,  the  sort 


164         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

of  post  mortem  existence,  which  he  conceived,  and  Im- 
mortality— as  the  brightest  intellects  of  the  present  age 
understand  it — are  two  very  dissimilar  states  or  modes 
of  being,  and  widely  different  in  principle,  value,  nature, 

and  results. 

I. 

It  may  be  well  to  present  an  abstract  and  brief  chroni- 
cle of  the  Platonic  idea,  in  order  to  clearly  indicate  the 
divergences. 

To  say  nothing  concerning  Plato's  doctrine  of  the 
Metempsychosis,  or  the  Transmigration  of  soul  from  body 
to  body — (which  doctrine  contains  some  truth,  as  doth 
nearly  every  notion  man  entertains,  and  which  took 
its  rise  in  the  plains  of  Ohaldea,  was  there  found  and 
adopted  by  the  great  Zerdusht,  or  Zoroaster,  from  whom 
Plato  borrowed  it) — we  will  merely  glance  at  certain 
others  of  his  recorded  opinions.  According  to  Plato, 
the  soul  is  double — that  is  to  say,  both  material,  and 
spiritual ;  all  souls  pre-existed ;  originally,  they  were 
inhabitants  of  Heaven,  a  place  somewhere  in  the  sky, 
whence  they  emigrated  to  the  earth  ;  their  sole  mis- 
sion is  to  become  '■  developed,"  which  process  is  effected 
in  this  wise  :  .  Each  soul  must  animate  successively  a 
prodigious  number  of  bodies,  every  stage  of  their  ca- 
reer occupying  not  less  than  a  "  period,"  which  may  be 
set  down  as  one  hundred  years,  and  must  be  repeated 
an  incalculable  number  of  times ;  they  then  return 
whence  they  came — to  Heaven  ;  are  permitted  by  the 
gods  to  remain  there  for  an  allotted  term,  after  the  ex- 
piration of  which,  they  are  again  compelled  to  go  forth 
and  occupy  successive  bodies,  as  before.  Consequently, 
all  human  souls  are,  according  to  the  Platonic  theory, 
destined  to  nearly  an  everlasting  repetition  of  the  same 
general  processes,  are  fated  to  an  almost  endless  round 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         165 

of  defilements  and  purifications  ;  of  returns  to  Heaven, 
and  dismissals  to  earth — not  to  speak  of  sundry  sojourns 
in  very  bad  localities  on  the  route. 

Plato  taught  that  these  souls  do  not  entirely  forget 
their  experiences,  joys,  sorrows  or  ambitions,  hopes, 
cares  and  anxieties — in  short,  none  of  their  varied  ex- 
periences during  the  several  incarnations  ;  and  that  all, 
or  any  portion  of  human  knowledge,  at  any  given  point 
of  time,  was  not  the  real  acquisition  of  the  present,  as 
it  seemed,  but  was  composed  merely  of  the  memories, 
or  reminiscences  of  innumerable  past  careers — the  pres- 
sent  recognition  of  facts  and  incidents  which  transpired 
in  some  pre-existent  stage  of  their  tremendous  career. 
That  these  are  truly  magnificent  notions,  scarce  any 
one  who  can  truly  grasp  them  will  deny,  even  though 
to  some  persons  they  may  appear  to  be  the  very  quin- 
tessence of  poetry.  Transmigration,  in  some  form,  has 
certainly  been,  if  not  hereafter  to  be,  the  lot  of  man.  I 
do  not  believe  the  Platonic  conception  of  this  great 
truth  to  be  the  correct  one,  nor  that  man  will  ever  un- 
dergo the  doom  again  ;  yet,  that  the  soul  has  reached 
its  present  through  many  an  inferior  state,  is  a  self-evi- 
dent fact  to  me.  At  all  events,  a  formidable  array  of 
reasons  might  be  presented  to  account  for  the  faith  that 
is  within  me. 

This  idea  of  Plato's  completely  antagonizes  two  of 
the  most  celebrated  dogmas  that  ever  held  the  human 
reason  captive  :  the  first  of  which  is  the  famous  "  Monad 
Theory"  of  Leibnitz,  albeit  he  came  very  near  the  truth, 
as  has  been  seen  ;  and  the  other,  the  modern  doctrine, 
that  souls,  like  bodies,  are  formed,  made,  created  here  ; 
and  that  their  origin  is  a  common  one — en  liter o. 

Before  the  conclusion  of  the  task  assigned  me,  I  shall 


166  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

have  occasion  to  revert  again  to  both  of  these  latter 
doctrines.     At  present,  let  them  pass. 

Plato  maintained  that  the  soul  was  Divince  particu- 
lum  aurce,  an  emanation  from  God  Himself,  a  portion  of 
His  immaculate  Being,  detached  for  a  time  only,  and 
that  after  innumerable  transmigrations  it  is  re-absorb- 
ed into  Himself  again,  and  loses  its  own  distinctive- 
ness. Of  course,  this  notion,  if  it  be  true,  instead  of 
proving  immortality,  as  Plato  supposed,  in  fact  dis- 
proves it  altogether ;  that  is,  if  immortality  be  conceded 
to  be  a  continuance  of  personal  identity,  and  an  indivi- 
dual duration,  subsequent  to  the  demise  of  the  physical 
body.  Immortality  means  a  continued  existence  of  the 
personality,  and  not  a  mere  survival  of  the  varied  ele- 
ments whereof  a  human  being  is  composed.  The  parti- 
cular Deific  emanations  which  constitute  the  souls  of 
A,  B,  C  and  D,  respectively,  as  soon  as  they  become 
souls,  are  beings  totally  distinct  from  all  else  that 
exists,  and  must  forever  remain  so  ;  and  "  soul"  can  be 
predicated  of  either,  only  as  beings  thus  separate,  and 
therefore  immortality  can  be  the  prerogative  of  man  only 
so  long  as  God  and  man  are  not  blended  into  one  single 
Personality.  So  long  as  each  soul  shall  think,  feel,  suffer, 
enjoy,  cogitate  and  have  a  continuity  of  self-knowing, 
just  so  long  will  it  be  possessed  of  an  invincible  convic- 
tion of  personal  identity,  under  which  circumstance 
alone,  and  only,  can  its  immortality  be  truly  predicated 
and  affirmed.  But.  should  any  soul  ever  be  re-absorbed 
into  Deity — again  become  a  portion  of  Divinity — an 
utter,  total,  and  complete  annihilation  of  the  individual 
must  ensue  ;  and  that  destruction  of  the  human  self- 
hood would  be  as  effective,  utter  and  complete,  as  if  the 
varied  elements  entering  into  it  as  constituents  were 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         107 

whirled  absolutely  out  of  the  universe  and  into  a  blank 
nothingness. 

A  tree  sawed  into  planks  is  a  tree  no  longer,  although 
the  wood,  so  far  as  mere  essence  is  concerned,  remains 
as  before.  The  tree  as  a  tree  is  ruined  forever,  albeit  the 
wood  of  it  may  endure  for  centuries.  To  sum  up  :  All 
the  theories  of  the  Platonists,  the  followers  of  Thales, 
and  the  disciples  of  every  one  of  the  ancient  philoso- 
phers, as  well  as  those  of  scores  of  the  modern  "  Spirit- 
ualists," especially  of  that  peculiar  school  who  prate 
of  immortality  and  annihilation  in  one  and  the  same, 
the  very  same  breath,  are  unsatisfactory  ;  for,  after  all, 
their  boasted  demonstrations  of  immortality  amount,  in 
their  final  results  and  effects  upon  our  minds,  to  but 
very  little  more  than  pleasing  hopes,  and  fond  desires, 
and  longings  after  immortality  !  In  what  follows  I  have 
endeavored  to  solve  the  problem,  in  a  somewhat  novel 
way,  it  must  be  admitted ;  yet  I  am  in  earnest,  and 
have  worked  up  the  materials  at  my  command  in  the 
most  effective  manner  that  was  possible. 


The  belief  in  ghosts,  spirits,  apparitions,  wraiths  and 
doubles,  is  almost  universal.  Millions  of  people  affect 
to  disbelieve  in  them  ;  and  yet,  deep  down  in  the  soul- 
caverns  of  these  identical  millions  may  be  found  all  that 
exists  in  the  minds  of  the  most  credulous.  Disbelief  in 
such  things  is  very  near  akin  to  the  asserted  creeds  of 
atheism.  Thousands  there  be  who  in  tvords  deny  the  ex- 
istence of  a  God ;  and  yet,  let  any  one  of  these  loud- 
mouthed sceptics  become  racked  with  a  real,  genuine,  old- 
ashioned  toothache,  and  ten  tor  one  he  cries  out  "0, 


168  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

Lord  I"  fifty  times  a  day,  and  as  often  in  the  night  begs 
God  to  have  mercy  upon  his  rack-tortured  jaws.  The 
fact  is,  there  never  yet  was,  there  never  will  be,  such  a 
rara  avis  as  a  genuine  atheist ;  and  in  spite  of  all  pro- 
testations to  the  contrary,  there  are  but  few  who  do 
not  believe  to  some  extent  in  the  existence  of  spirits. 
As  with  the  rest  of  the  world,  so  with  myself;  for,  not- 
withstanding the  chronic  and  hereditary  scepticism  of  my 
nature,  a  scepticism  as  unbending  as  iron,  as  inflexible 
as  stone,  I,  from  early  childhood,  entertained  a  certain 
vague,  indefinite  belief  in  the  existence  of  the  spectral 
gentry  of  another  world ;  yet  with  this  belief  there  was 
not  the  least  realization  in  my  mind  that  the  objects  of 
my  belief  had  the  faintest  or  most  distant  relationship 
to  the  human  people  in  flesh  and  blood  whom  I  daily 
saw  about  me.  There  was  nothing  very  singular  in 
that,  however,  for  I  merely  resembled  the  millions  of 
to-day,  who,  while  entertaining  the  most  undoubted, 
and,  in  some  respects,  salutary  belief  in  ghosts,  yet  prac- 
tically seem  not  to  have  the  most  distant  idea  that  in  so 
doing  they  are  fully  accepting  the  mystic's  faith, — that 
these  self-same  ghosts  are  but  the  spirits  of  mortals 
who  dwell  beyond  the  veil. 

Even  in  my  early  days  I  strove,  by  inquiry  and  by 
reading  such  books  upon  the  subject  as  fell  in  my  way, 
to  find  out  whether  this  earthly  life  was  the  only  allot- 
ment of  man, — poor,  care-ridden,  unhappy  man, — or  not. 
Child  as  I  was,  I  felt  the  incompleteness  of  all  subsolary 
things,  and  longed  to  know  if  our  experiences  here 
were  or  were  not  .all  we  had  to  hope  for,  or  look  for- 
ward to.  The  belief  in  ghosts  did  not  help  me  any  ; 
for  that  ghost  and  spirit  were  synonyms,  never  once 
struck  my  mind.     To.  the  innumerable  questions  pro- 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         169 

pounded  by  me  to  my  elders,  in  the  expectation  of 
eliciting  satisfactory  replies,  the  old  stereotyped  re- 
sponse was  given, — to  wit :  Mankind  have  souls,  and 
these  souls  live  when  the  body  is  dead  and  returned 
into  the  dust  of  the  ground  ;  but  what  the  soul  was, 
whence  it  came,  what  was  its  nature,  form,  shape  and 
size,  and  whither  it  went  after  the  loss  of  its  body,  I 
could  gain  not  the  slightest  information  ;  for  every 
answer  given  me  was  as  unsatisfactory  as  would  be  the 
Platonic  theory  to  a  modern  philosopher  of  the  trans- 
cendental order. 

After  a  while  these  repeated  failures  produced  their 
legitimate  fruit ;  at  first,  a  little  doubt  crept  in,  and 
challenged  all  I  had  gathered.     It  grew  apace,  and 
finally  settled  into  a  sort  of  atheism,  from  which  I  was 
happily  rescued  by  my  sister  Harriet,  and  the  good  old 
Father  Verella,  a  Spanish  priest,"  by  whom  I  was  duly 
baptized  and  received  into  the  bosom  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  in  my  native  city,  New  York.     How 
long  the  connection  lasted  cannot  now  be  told ;  but 
something  that  occurred  disgusted  me, •  and  forthwith 
the  Pope  had  a  new  foe  in  my  humble  person.     Years 
of  doubt   again   succeeded   after  this   relapse,  during 
which  the  belief  in  ghosts  grew  stronger  and  still  more 
strong.     My  mind  became  subject  to  certain  peculiar 
states, — a  sort  of  raptness,  so  to  express  it, — a  condi- 
tion precisely  identical  with   that    now   claimed  by 
thousands  in  the  land,  to  be  spiritually  induced.     The 
supposition  that  it  is  so,  may  be  correct,  and  it  may  be 
that  this  condition  is  the  result  of  the  development  of 
a  new  sense  or  faculty  in  the  mind.     It  matters  not 
which,  albeit  I  am  inclined  toward  the  latter  hypothe- 
sis.   In  these  states  to  which  I  became  at  times  subject, 
8 


170         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

it  seemed  to  me  that  I  held  converse  with  the  ghosts, 
but  for  a  long  time  was  totally  unable  to  realize  that 
they  were  human  spirits.  Much  of  the  history  of  my 
psychical  life  has  for  years  been  before  the  world,  and 
therefore  need  not  be  repeated  here  ;  consequently  we 
will  pass  over  several  years,  to  the  date  of  the  first 
occurrence  of  the  "  Rochester  Knockings."  At  the  first 
opportunity  that  offered  itself,  I  went  to  Litchfield, 
Michigan,  at  which  place  were  two  females  in  whose 
presence  the  strange  noises  were  said  to  occur.  I  heard 
them,  believed  they  were  produced  by  a  power  outside, 
and  independent  of  the  girls,  yet  could  hardly  realize 
that  human  souls,  disembodied,  were  the  makers  of  the 
sounds. 

The  result  was  an  increased  and  intensified  study,  not 
only  of  the  soul  itself,  so  far  as  was  possible  by  aid  of 
an  active  intellect  and  quickened  intuition,  but  also  of 
its  modes  of  action,  its  phases,  and  its  moods.  And, 
O,  how  my  spirit  loved  to  dwell  upon  its  possibilities ! 
Was  there  any  person  in  the  country  reputed  to  have 
a  wealth  of  knowledge  on  matters  pertaining  to  the 
spirit,  I  spared  neither  trouble  nor  expense  ;  but  went 
forthwith  to  glean  what  I  could  from  his  or  her  precious 
stores.  Of  the  "  rappers,"  "  tippers,"  and  "  table-turn- 
ers," I  soon  became  wearied ;  for,  as  a  class,  they 
amounted  to  but  little,  and,  with  one  or  two  exceptions, 
proved  unworthy  of  confidence. 

At  last,  I  went  to  visit  a  city  in  New  England,  where 
was  published  a  paper  devoted  to  the  illustration  and 
diffusion  of  spiritual  light,  the  editor  of  which  soon  be- 
came interested  in  me,  (for  people  said  that  my  ghost- 
seeing  faculty  was  real,  and  that  I  had  given  ineontesti- 
ble  proofs,  not  merely  of  the  power  indicated,  but  also 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  171 

of  what  they  were  pleased  to  call  clairvoyance).  While 
sojourning  in  this  eastern  city,  I  came  across  a  series 
of  crayon  sketches,  copied  from  an  old  English  work 
by  their  possessor,  illustrative  of  certain  portions  of  the 
processes  of  cosmical  formation,  according  to  the  Igni- 
genous  Theory.  One  of  these  drawings  represented  a 
vortical  sun,  discharging  from  itself  countless  hosts  of 
lesser  suns— a  world-rain  from  the  eternal  cornucopia. 
The  idea,  even  if  it  be  but  an  idea,  is  a  magnificent — aye, 
a  tremendous  one,  and  it  attracted  my  soul  very  strongly. 
Many  and  many  an  hour  have  I  sat  gazing  raptly  upon 
that  bit  of  pasteboard,  which  to  me  told  a  story  too 
supremely  vast  and  grand  to  ever  find  expression  in 
human  types  or  language ;  and  often  have  I  been  lost  in 
the  lanes  of  the  azure,  when  striving  to  reach  that  al- 
mighty center  of  flaming  fire,  whence  starry  systems 
rain  clown  like  snow-flakes  in  the  wintry  days. 

This  particular  crayon  set  me  to  thinking  in  right 
good  earnest ;  as  a  result  of  which,  it  appeared  that  my 
psychical  vision  became  intensified.  Test  after  test  was 
given  of  this  power,  until  the  list  rolled  up  from  tens  to 
hundreds,  and  people  said,  "  If  these  descriptions  of 
dead  persons,  whom  you  have  never  seen  when  living', 
and  whom  you  profess  to  behold  now,  are  not  proofs  of 
both  the  immortality  of  the  soul  and  the  ability  to  scale 
the  walls  which  divide  this  from  the  upper  worlds, 
what  in  Heaven's  name  will  prove  them  ?  It  must  be 
true  that  you,  and  hundreds  of  others  as  well,  do  really 
penetrate  the  heretofore  unlifted  veil.77  The  display 
of  these  powers  satisfied  others,  but  to  myself  they  still 
remained  the  weary,  weary  A's  and  the  barren,  barren 
B's  ;  for,  notwithstanding  all  that  I  had  seen,  heard  and 
read  on  the  subject  of  the  soul's  continuance,  it   was 


172         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

utterly  impossible  to  actualize  or  realize  my  theoretic  be- 
lief ;  and  this,  too,  at  the  very  time  that  scores  of  per- 
sons, through  the  practical  display  of  what  I  can  but 
regard  as  a  mere  phase  of  psycho-vision,  were  trium- 
phing in  a  firm,  solid,  unshaken 'belief  in  an  hereafter  ; 
singular,  was  it  not  ? 

That  the  soul  can,  at  times,  act  independent  of  the 
body,  I  am  firmly  convinced.  We  see  daily  proofs  of 
it  in  the  mesmerist's  art,  in  mental  telegraphy,  and  in 
various  other  ways  ;  this  has  long  been  an  accepted  fact. 
How  often  do  we  suddenly  think  of  a  person,  who  in- 
stantly thereafter  enters  our  presence,  his  spiritual  part 
having  preceded  the  physical  1  How  often  do  we  visit 
places  during  sleep  which,  in  other  days,  we  recognize 
externally  !  How  frequently  we  dream  of  persons  and 
things  unknown  to  us,  and  subsequently  encounter  these 
very  persons  and  things  when  wide  awake !  Many  per- 
sons possess  this  power  of  independent  soul-action,  and 
can  exert  it  at  will.     The  writer  has  often  done  so. 

The  experience  about  to  be  related  occurred  at  a 
period  when  the  skeptical  mood  was  on  my  soul ;  and 
it  overtook  me  as  I  wandered  distractedly  on  the  bor- 
ders of  the  region  of  Despair.  But  this  experience, 
strange,  fearful,  and  even  terrible,  as  portions  of  it  were, 
had  a  beneficial  effect ;  for  it  lifted  my  struggling  soul 
to  hights  of  grandeur  and  glory,  from  whose  sublime 
summits  my  vision  '  swept  the  plains  of  immortality, 
and  pierced  the  arcana  of  death  itself!' 

Had  the  wisdom-lessons  taught  in  this  immense  ex- 
perience been  duly  profited  by,  as  they  ought,  I  should 
have  escaped  many  and  many  a  bitter  hour.  But,  like 
the  majority  of  people,  I  refused  to  learn  in  any  but 
the  severest  of  all  schools. 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  173 

It  so  fell  out  upon  a  clay,  that,  having  taken  my  usual 
seat  before  a  copy  of  the  marvelous  crayon  previously 
alluded  to,  and  which  I  had  rudely  sketched,  I  became 
impatient  at  my  continual  failures  to  comprehend  the 
subject  it  represented.  Generally  this  had  not  been  the 
case.  My  mind,  on  that  morning,  was  unusually  clear 
and  vigorous ;  and  yet,  despite  all  efforts,  I  found  it  ut- 
terly impossible  to  comprehend  the  stupendous  concep- 
tion— the  Birth  of  a  Universe.  At  last,  heart-faint  and 
sick  at  my  failure,  I  abruptly  rose  from  the  chair,  re- 
sumed my  walking  apparel,  left  the  room,  and  strolled 
carelessly  and  mechanically  up  the  street,  and  continued 
listlessly  onward,  until  I  found  myself  beyond  the  out- 
skirts of  the  city,  and  entering  the  open  country.  It 
was  a  bright,  sunshiny  day ;  and  after  wandering  about 
for  nearly  an  hour,  and  beginning  to  feel  a  double  op- 
pression—fatigue of  body,  for  it  was  very  weak  and 
slender — and  despondency  of  spirits — it  struck  me  that 
I  would  turn  short  to  the  right,  and  lie  down  for  a 
while  beneath  the  grateful  shade  of  a  natural  bower, 
on  the  borders  of  a  forest  clump,  hard  by.  This  I  did  ; 
and  having  reclined  upon  the  rich,  green  turf,  under  the 
leafy  canopy  afforded  by  the  trees — rare  and  stately  old 
elms  they  were — abandoned  myself  at  once  to  medita- 
tion, speculation  and  repose.  How  long  I  thus  lay  it 
is  impossible  to  tell;  it  may  have  been  one  hour — it 
may  have  been  two  or  three  :  all  that  I  remember  of 
the  outer  world  of  wakefulness  is  the  framing  of  a  series 
of  questions,  and,  amongst  others  wherewith  I  interro- 
gated my  deepest  soul  for  responses,  were  these :  "  What 
is  the  immortality  of  man  ?  What  is  God  ?  Where 
does  He  dwell  ?  Is  the  life  hereafter  a  continuance  of 
this,  or  is  it  entirely  different  ?     Can.  it  be  only  a  shift- 


174         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

ing  of  world-scenes,  or  is  it  a  change  as  widely  apart 
from  our  earthly  state  as  is  this  last  from  the  existence 
before  birth  ?"  These,  and  many  similar  questions,  my 
soul  propounded  to  itself,  and  sought,  by  an  intense  in- 
troversion of  its  faculties,  to  reach  the  penetralia  of  its 
being,  where  it  instinctively  felt  convinced  that  all  the 
momentous  answers  were  already  registered.  Long 
and  persistently  was  this  endeavor  continued,  until,  for 
the  first  time  in  my  life,  I  became  aware  of  something 
very,  very  strange,  and  supremely  interesting  going  on 
within  me.  This  sensation  was  somewhat  analagous  to 
the  falling  off  into  a  deep  sleep,  only  that  it  was  the  body 
alone  which  lost  its  outward  sensibility  ;  it  was  the 
physical  senses  only  that  became  slowly  and  gradually 
benumbed  and  sealed,  while  the  mighty  senses  beneath 
them  appeared  to  intensify  themselves,  draw  together, 
and  coalesce  in  one  grand  All-sense  ;  and  this  contin- 
ued going  on  until  it  reached  a  strange  and  awful  de- 
gree, and  a  sensation  as  of  approaching  death  stole  over, 
and,  for  a  little  while,  frightened  and  alarmed  me. 

With  all  the  clearness  of  reasoning  that  I  ever  possess- 
ed, I  applied  myself  to  the  work  of  fathoming  what  all 
this  meant ;  but  the  more  strenuous  the  effort,  the  more 
signal  the  failure.  Finding  that  the  phenomenon  taking 
place  within,  was  governed  by  a  law  which  pertained 
to  soul-life  alone,  and  that  my  ignorance  of  that  mystic 
realm  was  too  great  and  dense  to  permit  a  full  compre- 
hension of  the  enigma,  nothing  remained  but  to  submit, 
and  learn,  as  time  wore  on ;  and,  accordingly,  giving 
over  all  attempts  to  shake  off  that  which,  by  this  time, 
held  my  entire  being  within  its  mighty  and  resistless 
grasp,  I  abided  patiently  the  result. 

Slowly  as  moves  the  ice-mounds  of  Switzerland  came 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  175 

the  sense  of  coldness  over  my  limbs  ;  inch  by  inch  the 
crafty  hand  of  Mystery  gained  firmer  hold.  The  feet, 
the  limbs,  the  vitals,  grew  cold  and  leaden,  until  at  last 
it  seemed  as  if  the  ventricles  of  my  heart  and  the  blood 
within  them  were  freezing,  slowly,  surely  freezing ;  and 
the  terrible  conviction  forced  itself  upon  me  that  I  was 
gradually,  but  positively — dying ! 

Soon  all  sense  of  organization  below  the  neck  was 
lost,  and  the  words  'limb,  body,  chest/  had  no  meaning. 
This  was  also  true  of  the  head  generally,  but  not  of  a 
something  within  that  head.  The  bodily  eyes  and  ears 
were  the  last  to  yield  themselves  up  to  the  influence 
of  the  strange,  weird  spell. 

With  a  last,  perishing  effort,  I  strove  to  look  forth 
upon,  and  listen  to  the  sounds  of  the  world,  now  perhaps 
forever  being  left  behind.  What  a  doleful  change  in  a 
few  brief  hours  !  Where  all  had  been  serenely,  calmly 
beautiful  before,  nothing  was  now  visible  but  the  huge, 
gaunt  skeletons  of  forms  I  had  seen  glowing  with  living 
verdure  but  a  little  while  ago ;  the  sunlight  was  changed 
from  silver  sheen  to  a  pale  and  sickly  yellow,  tinged 
with  ghastly  green.  The  overhanging  branches  and 
profuse  foliage  of  the  trees  hard  by  had  altered  their 
every  aspect,  and  from  stately  monuments  of  God's 
goodness,  had  become  transformed  into  spectral  obe- 
lisks, upreared  on  the  earth  to  tell  the  future  ages  that 
He  had  passed  that  way  in  savage  and  vindictive  wrath, 
once  upon  a  time.  When  I  lay  me  down  and  gazed  up 
into  the  beautiful  heaven,  the  fleecy  vapors  were  play- 
ing at  cloud-gambols  on  the  breast  of  the  vault ;  but 
now  they  were  turned  into  funereal  palls,  heavy,  black, 
and  gloomy  as  are  the  coverlets  of  Night;  and  the 
busy  hum  of  myriad  insects,  and  the  gentle  murmur  of 


176  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

the  zephyr  moving  through  the  bushes,  no  longer  pleased 
the  ear  by  their  soft,  low  buzz,  but  smote  upon  my  part- 
ing soul  like  a  last  and  dirgeful  knell ;  while  the  warb- 
lings  of  the  plumed  songsters  of  the  wood  sounded  to 
my  soul  like  the  sepulchral  chants  of  Eastern  story. 
Very  soon  the  deep  black  pall,  hung  out  upon  the  face 
of  heaven,  began  slowly  and  remorselessly  to  come  down, 
down,  down,  until  my  nostrils  snuffed  the  vapors  and 
sensed  the  odors  of  the  grave.  The  far-off  horizon  be- 
gan cautiously  to  approach  me,  shutting  out  first  one 
window  of  the  sky  and  then  another,  until  at  last  but 
a  little  space  of  light  was  left ;  and  still  the  cloud-walls 
drew  nearer,  nearer  still  ;  the  darkness  and  the  fetor 
grew  more  fearfully  dense  by  degrees  ;  I  gasped  for 
breath  ;  the  effort  pained  me,  and  was  fruitless  ;  and  the 
horrible  agony  consequent  thereupon,  for  one  moment 
re-illumed  the  brain  ;  and  the  dreadful  possibility,  nay, 
the  probability,  that  I  *was  to  die  there  alone,  with  no 
loved  hand  to^smoothe  my  brow,  no  lip  to  kiss  me  '  good- 
bye/ no  tearful  eye  to  watch  my  parting  hour,  sent  a 
thrill  along  my  brain  almost  too  intense  for  endurance. 
The  conviction  that  I  must  perish,  uncared  for  by  kind 
friends,  out  there  in  the  wood,  beneath  the  blue  sky  and 
the  green  trees,  seized  upon  my  soul,  and  the  cold  beads 
of  perspiration  that  oozed  from  my  brow  and  trickled 
down  to  the  ground,  attested  the  degree  of  mental  agony 
I  was  undergoing.  'Good-bye,  all  ye  beauties  of  the 
sense- world !  farewell,  all  whom  I  have  loved  or  been 
loved  by!'  I  mentally  said;  and  then,  by  a  strong 
effort  of  will,  nerved  my  soul  for  its  expected  flight. 
Soon  there  came  a  thrill,  a  shudder,  an  involuntary 
1  G-od,  receive  me ! '  and  J  felt  that  I  was  across  the 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         177 

My  sty  River,  and  stood  within  the  awful  gates  of — 
Eternity  ! 

The  majority  of  people  imagine  the  Soul- world  to  be 
spa  dally  (to  coin  a  good  word)  outside  of  this  sphere  ; 
and  so  it  is,  in  one  sense  ;  but  in  another,  it  is  not.  A 
notion  of  what  I  mean  may  be  had  by  comparing  the 
other  and  higher  with  certain  phases  of  the  true  dream- 
life.  The  scenes  of  action  of  either  are  totally  removed 
from  both  time  and  space,  and  yet  the  events  of  each 
are  actual  experiences  of  the  soul ;  for  even  in  dream- 
life  we  suffer  and  enjoy  quite  as  keenly  as  in  the  wake- 
ful world  of  grosser  sense.  A  woman  who  sleeps  and 
dreams,  finds  herself  in  two  widely-different  states  within 
the  four-and-twenty  hours.  Now,  the  normal  spiritual 
state  is  very  like  a  prolonged  dream-life,  to  which  our 
world-sense  or  earthly  condition  is  just  the  same  as  is 
spiritual  clairvoyance  to  an  inhabitant  of  the  physical 
body  ;  that  is  to  say,  it  is  possible  for  spiritual  beings 
to  become  en  rapport  with  this  earthly  w%rld,  and  the 
interests,  persons  and  things  thereof;  but  this  is  not 
their  normal  state  or  condition,  any  more  than  the 
clairvoyance,  induced  mesmerically,  is  the  normal  state 
of  the  subject  possessing  the  faculty. 

It  requires  long  and  persistent  effort  to  induce  a  con- 
dition in  a  hnman  being,  which  will  for  a  time  intromit 
him  into  the  greater  or  lesser  Soul-worlds  ;  and  just 
so  it  is  no  easy  matter  for  the  inhabitants  of  those  higher 
and  highest  worlds  to  become  en  rapport  with  this. 

These  remarks  are  introductory  to  what  follows. 

After  the  first  great  thrill  of  terror  had  passed  over, 
I  became  comparatively  calm,  and  soon  lost  all  con- 
sciousness whatever.  Not  a  sensation  ever  felt  before 
in  all  my -life  was  experienced  now,  but  a  new  magazine 


178         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

of  emotions  seemed  to  have  suddenly  been  opened  in 
the  depths  of  my  being,  and  began  to  usurp  the  places 
of  the  old  ones. 

Some  years  subsequent  to  the  events  now  detailed,  I 
read  the  wonderful  experiences  of  several  persons,  who 
had  taken  the  oriental  drug  known  as  hasheesh,  and  a 
few  years  thereafter  was  induced  to  make  an  experi- 
ment upon  myself  with  a  little  of  the  powerful  stimu- 
lant. I  became  fully  conversant  with  its  influence,- but 
in  no  instance  was  there  the  least  similarity  between 
the  condition  it  brought  on  and  the  state  in  which  I  was 
when  reclining  beneath  the  bower  in  the  wood.  I  have 
known  the  fullest,  deepest,  most  intense  effect  of  that 
singular  drug  ;*  but  nothing  I  ever  experienced  from 
it — nothing  I  ever  read  of  as  having  been  experienced 
by  others  "who  had  foolishly  taken  it — at  all  resembled 
the  sensations  to  which  I  awoke  under  the  trees  near 
that  eastern  city.  Gradually  the  sense  of  lostness,  which 
for  a  time  possessed  me,  passed  away,  and  was  succeeded 
by  a  consciousness  altogether  distinct  from  that  of 
either  the  dream  or  the  ordinary  wakeful  condition. 
Not  a  sensation  ever  previously  experienced — not  even 
in  the  very  soul-vaults  of  my  being — now  swept  the 
nerve-harp  within,  to  solace,  actuate  or  annoy  ;  but.  in- 
stead, there  came  an  indefinable  pleasuke-sense — a 
sort  of  hyper-sensual  ecstasy,  by  no  means  organic,  but 
diffused  over  the  entire  being.  I  have  every  reason  to 
believe  that  this  feeling  is  alivays  experienced  by  the 
newly  dead.  Persons  who  have  been  resuscitated  after 
drowning,  suspension  by  the  neck,  and  asphyxia,  all 
unite  in  testifying,  that  so  far  as  their  experience  went, 

*  Nothing  on  earth  could  ever  induce  me  to  take  a  drachm  of  this 
accursed  drug  again.  . 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         179 

death  was  a  pleasant  feeling,  and  its  joys  supreme,  even 
in  what  to  spectators  may  have  seemed  the  terrible 
passing  hour.  This  sensation,  like  all  others,  cannot 
be  verbally  described  ;  it  was  as  if  the  keenest  pleasures 
known  to  us  in  the  body  were  infinitely  prolonged  and 
strung  out  over  the  entire  nerve-sea,  instead  of  a  single 
organ  or  two. 

I  cannot  perhaps  convey  my  meaning  to  some  people 
better  than  by  saying  that  the  sensation  was  akin  to 
the  feeling  of  an  instantaneous  relief  from  the  most  ex- 
cruciating pain — the  toothache,  for  instance.  I  was 
not,  at  first,  conscious  of  possessing  a  body  ;  not  even 
the  ultra-sublimated  material  one  of  which  we  hear  so 
much  said  in  these  latter  days ;  but  a  higher,  nobler 
consciousness  was  mine — namely,  a  supremely  radiant 
soul-majesty. 

My  ears  did  not  hear  ;  but  Sound — Nature's  music — 
the  delicious,  but  still  melodies  of  earth  and  space,  and 
all  things  else,  seemed  to  pour  in  upon  my  ravished 
soul,  in  rich  full  streams,  through  a  thousand  avenues. 
The  eye  did  not  see,  but  I  was  all  sight.  There  was  no 
organ  of  locomotion,  as  on  the  earth,  nor  were  such 
needed  ;  but  my  spirit  seemed  to  be  all  motion,  and  it 
knew  instinctively,  that  by  the  power  of  the  thought- 
wish,  it  could  reach  any  point  within  the  boundaries  of 
earth  where  it  longed  and  willed  to  be  ;  but  not  a  sin- 
gle yard  beyond  it.  Let  it  be  here  distinctly  under- 
stood, that  the  condition  in  which  I  now  found  myself, 
was  precisely  the  same  as  that  of  the  higher  class  of 
spiritual  beings,  when  they  are  in  the  peculiar  state 
wherein  they  can  for  a  limited  period,  and  to  a  certain 
extent,  become  connected  with  this  world,  wherein  they 
have  once  lived,  and  from  which  they  have^  passed  over 


180  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

the  bridge  of  Death  to  the  brighter  realms  beyond  ;  in 
other  words,  I  was  connected  with'  two  worlds,  and  the 
states  incident  to  the  residents  of  both,  at  one  and  the 
same  time. 

Distinctively  and  most  clearly  does  memory  retain 
all  the  marvelous  changes  from  the  pre-state  of  that 
auspicious  afternoon. 

What  is  especially  remarkable,  is,  that  the  condition 
was  so  peculiar,  that  the  freed  soul  could,  and  did,  after 
a  time,  take  close  notice  of  material  things,  even  while 
that  same  soul-gaze  penetrated  the  surface,  and  beheld 
their  essences.  The  vision  was  not  bounded  by  the 
obstacles  which  impede  ordinary  sight.  Every  object 
was,  more  or  less,  transparent ;  and  one  very  singular 
peculiarity  of  all  bodies,  of  whatever  kind,  was  this  : 
the  trees,  stones,  hills,  mountains,  everything,  appeared 
as  if  composed  of  absolute  fire.  A  certain  object  I 
knew,  from  its  shape,  to  be  a  large  tree,  with  brown 
bark,  white  wood,  and  green  leaves  ;  yet  none  of  these 
colors  were  there  now,  but  instead,  the  trunk  appeared 
to  be  a  huge  cylinder  of  gray  fire,  not  in  one  mass,  but 
in  interwoven  streaks,  all  actively  flaring  upward,  and 
bound  together  by  a  circle  of  brighter  fire  (the  inner 
bark),  which  in  turn  was  encompassed  by  a  dull  brown 
band  of  faintly  flickering  flame.  Each  leaf  was  also 
nothing  but  a  vari-formed  disk  of  purple  and  orange 
fire.     Thus  it  was  with  all  that  I  beheld. 

Eire,  in  some  form,  constitutes  the  life  of  all  beings, 
of  whatsoever  nature ;  of  this  I  am  firmly  convinced. 
These  strange  sights  caused  me  to  reason  in  this  wise : 
"  If  dull  matter  is  so  filled  with  the  divine  luminescence, 
what  must  be  the  appearance  of  a  human  being  ?  Surely 
a  man  must  present  an  astonishing  sight!     Of  a  cer- 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  181 

tainty,"  said  I,  "  tliis  must  be  Eternity,  and  I  am  now  a 
free  soul !  0,  that  I  might  behold  another  soul  than 
mine,  and  learn  somewhat  of  its  mysteries,  and  reach 
the  understanding  of  a  few  of  the  deeper  things  of  its 
nature."  Scarcely  had  this  desire  taken  form,  than  a 
sense  of  involuntary  motion  took  possession,  and  I  felt 
myself  slowly  and  positively  rising  in  space,  at  a>*  angle 
of  eighty  degrees  with  the  horizon.  Amazement!  The 
sensation  was  not  unpleasant ;  but  as  the  ground  re- 
ceded apparently,  the  novelty  of  the  situation  produced 
emotions  that  most  certainly  were.  It  is  impossible  to 
describe  one's  feelings ;  nor  shall  such  an  attempt  be 
here  essayed.  Suffice  it  therefore,  that  I  rose  to  such  a 
height,  that,  judging  by  the  faint  gleams  of  the  earth- 
fires  in  the  hills,  and  the  indistinct  shimmering  of  the 
city  itself,  I  conjectured,  that  when  at  the  highest  point, 
not  less  than  five  miles,  in  a  straight  line,  separated  me 
from  the  peak  of  the  tallest  mountain  within  sight. 
Having  reached  this  altitude,  I  began  to  descend  the 
opposite  arm  of  the  triangle,  whose  base  was  on  the 
earth's  surface,  and  reached  the  ground  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  a  city  in  central  New  York,  distant  from 
my  point  of  departure  not  less  than  two  hundred  miles. 
Of  course,  it  was  impossible  to  even  conjecture  either 
the  means  by  which  this  journey  was  accomplished,  or 
the  motives  prompting  the  wierd  power  which  effected 
it ;  but  whatever  be  the  reasons  of  my  coming,  one  thing 
is  certain — here  I  am,  and  nothing  remains  but  to  abide 
the  issue,  whatever  it  may  be,  thought  I. 

Even  during  the  mental  perturbation,  which  was  the 
natural  result  of  the  extraordinary  circumstances  in 
which  I  was  placed,  the  question-asking  faculty  and  pro- 
pensity of  my  mind — one  of  its  leading  traits — found 


182  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

sufficient  time  for  exercise  ;  and  many  were  the  "  whys," 
"  hows/7  and  "  what  fors"  which  causality  propounded, 
but  to  which  at  first  there  came  no  response.  It  is 
almost  impossible  to  convey  an  idea  of  the  strange  pro- 
cesses by  which  knowledge  flowed  in  upon  my  soul.  It 
seemed  to  be  absorbed.  Knowledge,  all  knowledge 
may  be  said  to  float  in  the  spiritual  atmosphere,  under- 
lying the  coarser  air  men  breathe ;  and  in  certain 
states,  reachable  by  every  human  being,  this  knowledge 
is  drawn  in  involuntarily,  just  as  salt  absorbs  moisture. 

Near  the  spot  over  which  I  hovered,  [for  the  spirit 
cannot  touch  gross  substance  directly,  but  moves  along 
on  the  surface  of  an  aerial  stratification  near  the  earth  : 
these  strata  are  about  sixty  feet  apart,  and  there  are 
transverse,  vertical  and  other  lanes  leading  in  all  direc- 
tions through  them,]  stood  a  house  embowered  in  trees, 
and  in  this  house  was  a  "  study,"  and  in  that  study  I 
saw  the  object,  above  all  others,  which  had  been  the 
theme  of  my  longing,  prior  to  the  commencement  of  my 
aerial  journey,  namely,  a  man  ;  and  that  man  was  ap- 
parently educated  and  refined — for  near  where  he  sat 
stood  a  library  of  books,  one  of  which  he  was  at  that 
moment  engaged  in  reading.  The  title  of  the  book 
was  "  Neander's  Life  of  Christ." 

Calmly  read  the  man  ;  still  more  calmly  I  observed 
him  and  his  surroundings  ;  and  the  result  of  these  ob- 
servations was  a  firm  conviction  that  the  theories  pro- 
pounded by  Newton,  and  generally  admitted  to  be  true, 
concerning  light,  color,  and  sound,  are  not  correct,  or 
even  approximately  so. 

No  amount  of  disbelief  on  the  part  of  others ;  no 
amount  of  cavilling,  nor  reasoning  can  ever  convince  me 
that  the  experience  now  being  recorded  is  anything  less 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         183 

than  absolute  fact — the  direct  contact  of  my  inner  being 
with  the  truths  here  related  :  hence  I  hesitate  not  for 
an  instant  in  challenging  the  guesses  of  even  a  Newton, 
and  offsetting  against  them  the  results  of  my  own  per- 
sonal inspection  of  the  phenomena  whereof  his  Principia 
treats.  In  the  first  place,  there  are  many  different  kinds 
of  light :  in  the  present  instance,  there  were  two  sorts 
in  operation  ;  first,  the  rays  of  solar  light  fell  upon  the 
printed  page,  and  with  it  a  still  finer,  and  more  subtle, 
white  and  velvet  light,  from  the  eyes  of  the  man  him- 
self ;  which  proved  to  me,  that  men  gain  a  knowledge 
of  external  things  by  means  of  an  absolute  and  positive 
irradiation  from  the  soul  itself,  whose  seat  is  in  the  cen- 
tral brain ;  and  this,  through  the  medium  of  the  optic 
nerves,  retina  and  other  delicate  organs.  In  proportion 
to  the  central  power  of  the  soul,  it  suffuses  and  bathes 
everything  in,  and  with,  a  subtle  aura  ;  and  this  aura  is 
that  mysterious  telegraphic  apparatus,  by  means  of 
which  it  issues  its  behests,  and  receives  information. 

While  gazing  upon  this  beautiful  sight  I  distinctly 
heard  a  hell  ring  ;  and  yet  that  bell  was  not  sounded 
within  two  hundred  miles  of  the  spot  where  at  that 
very  moment  the  body  of  the  writer  lay  wrapped  in  a 
death-like  pall  of  insensibility,  as  was  proved  by  the 
actions  of  the  man  within  the  house,  near  which  I  stood, 
investigating  the  sublimest  of  all  phenomena — namely, 
the  Human  Soul,  its  phases,  modes  and  nature. 

The  student  instantly  laid  down  the  book  and  rose  to 
his  feet ;  not,  however,  to  respond  to  the  ringing,  but 
to  bid  his  three  or  four  little  mischief-loving  prattlers 
be  quiet,  make  less  noise,  put  aside  the  hand-bell,  and 
not  disturb  him  by  its  tinkling. 

All  this  was  deeply  interesting  ;  but  what  most  at- 


184  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

tracted  my  attention  was  the  discovery  of  the  fact  that 
sound  was  not,  as  thousands  of  scientific  men  have  as- 
serted, a  mere  vibration  of  aerial  particles,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  was,  and  is,  a  fine,  very  fine  and  attenuated 
substance,  which  leaves  any  and  all  objects  that  are 
jarred  or  struck — and  leaves  in  greater  or  less  volume, 
in  pointed  pencil-rays,  single  rays,  broad  sheets  of 
various  shapes,  and  in  undulatory  waves,  according  to 
the  nature  of  the  object  whence  it  flows,  the  force  of  the 
blow  struck,  and  the  character  of  the  object  used  in 
striking.  It  would  be  quite  worth  the  while  for  our 
savants  to  make  experiments .  to  verify,  or,  if  possible, 
refute  these  statements. 

The  man  resumed  his  seat ;  and  I  saw  that  from  his 
internal  brain  there  proceeded  to  the  outer  ears  innu- 
merable fibres  of  pale  green  light,  and  that  the  pencil- 
rays  and  sheets  of  sound,  which  were  at  that  moment 
floating  through  all  contiguous  space,  came  in  direct 
contact  with  the  terminals  of  what, — for  want  of  a  better 
name, — I  will  call  fibres,  or,  more  properly,  fibrils  ;  the 
contact  took  place  within  the  rim  of  the  external  ear, 
and  the  sound  was  instantaneously  transmitted,  or  tele- 
graphed, along  the  auditory  nerve  to  the  sanctum 
sanctorum  of  his  very  soul. 

The  question  naturally  arises  in  the  reader's  mind  at 
this  point :  "  How  was  it  possible  for  you  to  become 
cognizant  of  sound  under  the  very  peculiar  circum- 
stances and  conditions  by  which  you  were  surrounded 
for  the  time  being  ?  You  could  not  hear  by  means  of 
the  outer  ear  and  auditory  nerves,  for  it  is  plain,  if  your 
story  be  indeed  a  recital  of  actual  events,  and  not  merely 
a  splendid  philosophical  fiction,  that  your  material  hear- 
ing apparatus  had  been  left  behind  you,  in  the  body, 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         185 

beneath  the  trees  on  the  outskirts  of  the  New  England 
city  ?"  A  very  fair  question  this,  and  one  demanding 
a  fair  answer.  To  it  I  reply  thus  :  The  human  being, 
externally,  is  a  multiple  thing,  at  the  bottom  of  which 
lies  the  invisible  soul  :  Soul  is  the  thinking,  feeling, 
knowing  essence  ;  spirit  is  its  casket ;  the  body  but  its 
nursery-garments,  the  clothing  of  its  juvenility.  By 
means  of  the  body,  the  soul,  in  which  alone  all  power 
and  faculty  inheres,  is  enabled  to  come  in  contact  with 
the  material  world.  By  means  of  its  inner  or  spirit- 
body,  which  is  but  an  out-creation,  it  holds  converse 
with  the  worlds  of  Knowledge,  Spirit  and  Principle. 
The  fibrils  alluded  to  are  not  mere  emanations  from  the 
physical  brain,  or  its  ganglia,  but  they  are  wires,  one 
end  of  which  is  eternally  anchored  in  the  very  soul  itself, 
which  latter  is,  of  course,  the  man  per  se.  The  wires, 
though  passing  through,  are  by  no  means  rooted  in  the 
corporeal  structure  ;  hence,  the  man  or  woman,  without 
a  flesh-and-blood  body,  experiences  but  little,  if  any, 
difficulty  in  hearing  sounds  made  in  this  material  world. 
As  it  is  with  regard  to  hearing,  so  also  it  is,  to  the 
same  degree,  with  reference  to  the  power  of  seeing  the 
corporeal  forms  of  earthly  things.  The  perfection  and 
ease,  however,  with  which  this  is  done,  depends  upon 
the  normal  condition  of  the  disembodied  man  himself. 
If  he  or  she,  as  the  case  may  be,  is  sound,  sane,  clear 
and  morally  healthy,  its  powers,  as  with  one  yet  in  the 
flesh,  are  augmented  and  positive  ;  therefore  it  can,  by 
processes  already  sufficiently  explained,  see,  hear,  feel,  and 
even  read,  not  only  books,  but  the  unexpressed  thought 
of  a  person  still  embodied  with  whom  he  or  she  may 
for  the  time  being  be  in  sympathetic  contact.  Yery 
seldom,  however,  can  the  recently  dead  do  these  things 


186  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

with  the  same  ease  and  facility  that  others  can  who 
have  been  over  the  river  a  longer  time.  This  I  have 
abundantly  proved  ;  and  this,  too,  explains  a  point 
which,  as  certain  believers  in  the  Spiritology  of  the  day 
inform  me,  has  puzzled  thousands  of  investigators,  L  e. : 
why  some  of  the  dead  people,  with  whom  they  claim  to 
hold  very  frequent  converse,  can  only  be  communicated 
with  by  means  of  hard  labor  on  their  part,  while  others 
readily  understand  and  respond.  Some  can  faintly, 
others  clearly  see  and  hear ;  some  can  correctly  read 
people's  thoughts  ;  others  cannot,  and  must  be  addressed 
vocally  ;  others  still  require  all  questions  to  be  written, 
in  order  that  they  may  see  and  understand.  The  facul- 
ties and  powers  of  dead  people  are  doubtless  as  varied, 
dissimilar  and  unevenly  developed  as  are  those  of  per- 
sons on  the  hither  side  of  Time. 

The  study  of  the  human  soul  is  a  great  one,  and  en- 
tirely worthy  of  a  life's  devotion.  It  has  been  mine  to 
seek  the  solution  of  many  of  its  mysteries,  and  in  a  few 
instances  success  has  crowned  the  effort  and  rewarded 
the  laborer.  The  final  answer  to  the  question  is  this  : 
the  sounds  were  conveyed  to  my  inner  being  directly, 
and  without  the  need  of  any  flesh-and-blood  organ  of 
sense.  Let  us  now  turn  toward  a  far  more  sublime 
mystery,  namely  :  The  very  Soul  itself. 


With  unmingled  astonishment  I  gazed  upon  the  man 
as  he  sat  there  in  his  quiet  study.  I  had  often  been  told 
that  man  was  a  microcosm,  or  a  world  in  miniature ; 
but  closer  observation  proved  to  me  that  he  was  more 
than  that — for,  instead  of  a  world,  he  was  a  universe  of 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  187 

worlds  and  mysteries,  a  few  of  the  latter  of  which  were 
comprehended  by  me  for  the  first  time. 

Standing  thus,  I  reasoned  after  this  wise  :  '  Unques- 
tionably all  the  faculties  and  qualities  pertaining  to 
man,  as  we  find  him  upon  the  earth,  are  the  results  of  a 
design  on  the  part  of  the  august  Mind  which  placed  him 
here.  The  purpose  and  function  of  these  faculties  and 
qualities,  are  to  subserve  man's  best  interests,  his  proper, 
unfolding,  and  the  divine  purpose — here  ;  and,  doubt- 
less, when  by  death  he  shall  be  transported  elsewhere, 
to  meet  a  new  destiny  and  act  in  a  new  drama,  other 
qualities  and  faculties,  adapted  to  his  changed  position, 
will  be  given  him ;  or,  if  already  latent,  will  be  duly 
brought  into  action.  Perhaps  their  seeds  are  already 
planted  in  him  •  if  so,  they  will  assuredly  spring  up  at 
death,  blossom  in  the  Soul-world,  and  bear  golden  fruit 
in  that  place,  and  at  that  period  of  the  infinite  year, 
when  God  shall  so  ordain  it.  We  none  of  us  know  what 
we  fairly  are  ;  and  no  one,  not  even  the  loftiest  seraphs, 
can  tell  positively  what  we  shall  be  ;  yet,  that  man  is 
re-served,  and  will  through  all  his  trials  be  _pre-served, 
for  some  great,  some  yet  undreamed-of  destiny  or  end, 
there  cannot  be  the  shadow  of  a  doubt.  Nor  will  this 
final  end  be  the  mere  eternal  dwelling  in  the  Valhallas, 
of  which  we  sometimes  dream  ;  nor  in  the  ■  spheres/ 
about  which  '  spiritual  mediums '  so  glibly  talk,  nor  in 
the  gold-paved  cities  whereof  we  so  often  sing.  Our 
final  destiny  is  none  of  these.  Beyond  all  question,  much 
of  the  knowledge  acquired  in  the  earth-life  will  be 
found  at  death  to  have  served  its  purpose  here,  and 
will  never  again  come  into  play. 

Not  a  single  one  of  the  grander,  more  noble  longings 
and  ambitions  of  the  soul  can  find  their  field  of  action 


188         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

here  ;  but  they  are  deathless  ;  and  as  God  has  provided 
a  supply  for  every  proper  demand  in  all  things  else,  so 
He  -has  in  this  instance  ;  and  therefore,  though  the  as- 
piring soul  may  pass  away  with  its  strong  wings  droop- 
ing, and  weak  for  want  of  exercise,  yet,  up  there — in  its 
grand  heaven — the  air  is  pure  and  the  field  immense,  the 
mountains  tall,  and  the  oceans  wide  ;  and  the  eagle  soul 
shall  essay  its  loftiest  flight,  and  grow  stronger  from 
the  trial.  What  a  person  acquires  here  is  but  a  pro- 
phecy of  harvests  to  be  reaped  in  the  great  hereafter. 

Man  is  really  a  unitary  being,  but  seemingly  is  du- 
plex, and  even  multiple  ;  but  this  is  seeming  only,  for 
in  fact  there  is  but  one  real  sense  in  man — which  truth 
I  learned  as  I  gazed  upon  the  student  in  the  chamber  ; 
and  that  sense  is  intuition — the  human  sprout  of  an  in- 
finite and  God-like  faculty,  dormant  in  most  people,  yet 
incontestibly  destined  to  an  immense  unfolding  in  all ; 
albeit,  it  is  so  deeply  buried  in  some  that  it  can  only 
express  itself  through  organs.  "  And  God  said,  Let 
us  make  man  in  our  own  image  ;"  and  so  He  made  him  ; 
but  God  is  ubiquitous,  omnipresent,  omniscient — man  is 
not ;  and  yet,  if  Scripture  be  worthy  of  our  regard,  and 
Progress  be  not  a  sham  and  delusive  dream,  the  tre- 
mendous prophecy  implied  in  the  line  from  Genesis  just 
quoted  is  certainly  to  be  realized  ;  and  man  is  destined 
to  move,  through  thorny  fields — and  slowly,  it  may  be — 
yet  still  to  move,  towards  Ubiquity  and  Omniscience  ! 
Intuition  is  the  sprout  of  which  they  are  the  full  tree. 
True,  man  shall  never  reach  absolute  godhood,  yet 
ever  will  he  move  toward  it. 

"If  this  be  so,"  says  the  caviler,  "  and  God  be  sta- 
tionary, and  not  an  advancing  Being,  there  must  come  a 
time — even  though  when  many  a  yet  unborn  eternity 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  189 

shall  have  grown  hoary  with  age — still  there  must  come 
a  time  when  man  ivill  overtake  Deity  ;  and  then  there 
can  no  longer  be  a  God  I"  Specious  this,  very  !  Why? 
Because  God,  though  not  a  progressive  Being,  as  we 
understand  it,  yet  is  infinite  ;  and  man  must  ever  be 
finite.  God's  omniscience  is  what  the  word  proclaims 
it — all-knowing  ;  but  man  shall  be  much-knowing.  He 
is  forced  to  approach  Perfection  in  straight  lines,  and 
when  he  shall  have  attained  immense  power  in  any 
given  direction,  there  will  still  be  forever  germinating 
new  faculties,  before  the  untold  millions  of  which  there 
shall  ever  be  an  infinite  stretch,  a  limitless  field,  an  end- 
less road.  God  also  is  kaleidescopic  ;  and,  supposing  it 
were  possible  for  man  to  reach  the  point  of  greatness  at 
which  Deity  is  .to-day,  yet  one  exertion  of  His  volition — 
and,  lo  !  He  presents  a  new  aspect  to  the  wondering 
souls  of  infinitude,  more  marvelous  than  before,  and 
reveals  points  which  will  place  a  new  infinity  between 
man  and  their  attainability;  and  so  on  for  all  the 
epochs  yet  to  be — epochs  whereof  eternities,  as  we  un- 
derstand them,  shall  only  count  as  moments  in  the  ever- 
lasting year.  Death  is  but  an  awakening,  and  there 
are  to  be  myriads  of  these. 

All  this  I  knew  and  felt ;  all  these  mighty  foreshad- 
owings  flowed  into  my  soul,  as,  with  clarified  intellect, 
and  spirit  bowed  down  with  awe,  I  stood  gazing  at  the 
man  within  the  chamber.  More  :  Reason,  the  king- 
faculty  given  us  here,  was  only  intended  to  act  as  our 
pilot  through  life,  and  will  have  fulfilled  its  main  office 
when  we  step  into  the  grave  ;  but  very  soon  after  we 
step  out  of  it,  on  the  other  side,  the  union  of  the 
senses  begins  to  take  place,  and  the  Sense — whose  ele- 
ments are  the  senses — comes  into  play — the  all-absorb- 


190  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

ing  Intuition.  This  uni-faculty  is  not  a  thing  of  earthly 
origin,  though  it  here  deepens  and  grows  strong  ;  it  was 
an  integer  of  the  original  being — became  a  part  of  the 
soul  at  the  very  instant  wherein  it  fell  from  God  ;  it  is 
a  triple  faculty,  and  its  role  is  Prevision,  Present-know- 
ing, and  Reminiscence. 

The  skin  of  a  man- is  not  himself,  although  whoever 
sees  one,  recognizes  something  human.  Beneath  this 
skin  is  the  muscular  system,  interlaced  with  a  magnifi- 
cent net-work  of  nerves,  all  in  the  form  of,  yet  by  no 
means  the  man  himself.  Next  we  come  to  the  osseous 
system — the  skeleton — the  God-fashioned  framework  of 
the  house  he  lives  in — and  a  house  only — one,  too,  that 
is  often  let  to  bad  tenants,  seeing  how  zealously  they 
abuse  it  and  batter  'down  its  walls.  Now,  when  we  see 
a  skeleton,  we  know  it  is  something  that  points  towards 
the  human,  yet  do  not  for  that  reason,  even  momenta- 
rily, confound  the  bones  with  the  individual  ;  for  we 
instinctively  know  that  the  wonderful  occupant  of  this 
bony  edifice  is,  and  to  bodily  eyes  will  forever  remain 
invisible.  Whoever  looks  for  a  man,  must  go  below 
and  above  skin,  flesh,  muscles,  and  bones,  to  find  him. 
Well,  let  the  searcher  enter  the  domain  of  the  senses — 
a  country  that  lies  a  long  distance  beyond  the  nervo- 
osseous  land.  Ah !  here  is  the  man,  somewhere  in  this 
region  of  sense.  Let's  see !  one,  two,  three,  five,  or  a 
dozen— no  matter  about  counting  them — yet  nowhere  in 
all  this  region  have  we  found  or  can  find  the  man.  We 
are  certainly  nearer  to  him  than  we  were  awhile  ago  ; 
yet,  not  finding  him,  we  conclude  to  go  a  little  further 
in  the  search.  '  He  dwells  in  the  Faculties.'  Not  so  ; 
try  again.  '  In  the  passions.'  Further  still ;  not  home 
yet.    '  In  God-like  reason,  and  the  quality-parlors  of  vir- 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.        191 

tue,  aspiration,  expression — each  one  step  nearer  the 
goal.'  Go  a  little  deeper,  and  in  the  centre  of  the  brain 
you  will  find  a  winged  globe  op  celestial  fire,  in 
which  dwells  the  Man  ! — his  part  of  God  crowded 
into  less  than  three  square  inches  of  surface.  Here  is 
the  seat  of  the  soul  ;  here  is  the  Grand  Ddpot,  at  which 
all  the  Nerve,  and  Thought,  and  Knowing,  Thinking 
and  Feeling  trains,  and  telegraphic  lines  converge  and 
meet !  This  Winged  Globe  is  a  House  of  Many  Man- 
sions, eternal  in  itself ;  and  the  principal  parlor,  in  the 
grandest  palace  of  them  all,  is  devoted  to  the  Peerless 
Power — Intuition  !  Born  in  man,  it  often  lies  'perdu, 
or  latent,  till  the  final  passage,  and  never  bursts  into 
full  activity  at  once,  save  in  very  rare  instances,  as  in 
the  case  of  those  wonderful  genii,  Newton,  La  Place, 
and  men  of  that  order  ;  and  even  in  these,  it  is  only 
partially  active.  It  requires  peculiar  conditions  for  its 
expansion,  just  as  the  reasoning  and  other  faculties  re- 
quire time  and  exercise.  The  soul  is  really  a  divine 
monad*  a  particle,  so  to  speak,  of  the  Divine  brain — a 
celestial  corruscation  from  the  Eternal  heart ;  and,  for 
that  reason,  an  eternal  existence — immortality  being  its 
very  essence,  and  expansion  constituting  its  majestic  na- 
ture ;  and  the  Soul,  this  monad,  was  once  an  integer  of 
God  himself — was  sent  forth  by  His  fiat — became  in- 
carnated and  an  individual,  separate  and  distinct  from, 
yet  having  strong  affinities  for  all  things  material — 
stronger  for  all  things  spiritual,  and  for  its  brethren — 

*  Monad — first  definition,  an  ultimate  atom  5  a  simple  substance 
without  parts,  indivisible,  a  primary  constituent  of  matter.  Second 
definition — a  monad  is  not  a  material,  but  a  formal  atom,  it  being  im 
possible  for  a  thing  to  be  at  once  material  and  possessed  of  a  real  uni- 
ty and  indivisibility. 


192  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

and  an  attraction  toward  its  ultimate  Source  stronger 
than  all  else  beside.  Here,  then,  I  lay  bare  the  very 
corner-stone  of  the  splendid  Temple  of  Progress,  whose 
foundations  are  laid  in  Time,  but  whose  turrets  catch 
the  gleams  from  the  Eternal  Sun  of  suns,  whose  warm- 
ing rays  diffuse  themselves  over  every  starry  island  in 
the  tremendous  Ocean  of  Being  ! 

Intuition  is  but  an  awakening  of  the  inmost  soul  to 
an  active  personal  consciousness  of  what  it  knew  by  vir- 
tue of  its  Divine  genesis. 

Suffering  appears  to  be  one  means  toward  this 
awakening,  and  the  consequent  intensification  of  the 
individuality  ;  and  the  passions  of  man,  labor,  and  evil, 
are  also  agents  to  this  end. 

Man  is  beset  by  evil  on  all  sides,  doubtless  to 
the  end  that,  in  shunning  it,  and  conserving  the  self- 
hood, he  may  effect  the  earliest  possible  completion  and 
rounding  out  of  his  entire  being,  and,  consequently,  Iqe 
all  the  better  prepared  to  encounter  the  immense  des- 
tiny that  lies  before  him  in.  the  Hereafter.  ****** 
And  I  gazed  upon  the  man  within  the  chamber ;  the 
weather  to  him — but  not  to  me,  for  I  was  totally  unaf- 
fected— seemed  to  be  oppressively  warm ;  and  it  was 
exceedingly  difficult  for  him,  after  a  while,  to  overcome 
the  somnolent  or  drowsy  influence  thus  induced,  and 
prevent  himself  from  falling  asleep.  However,  he 
made  strenuous  efforts  to  conquer  the  tendency,  and 
for  a  time  it  was  mastered  ;  but,  in  the  struggle  be- 
tween himself  and  the  slumber-fay,  a  secret  was  disclosed 
to  me,  and  another  beautiful  arcanum  of  the  human 
economy  revealed. 

The  student  of  these  pages  will  remember  that  ere- 
while  I  mentioned  the  astonishing  fact — one  of  great 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  193 

value  to  all  who  think — that  I  was  as  a  perfectly  dis- 
embodied soul  during  the  experience  now  recounted, 
and  could  and  did  behold,  at  one  and  the  same  time, 
both  the  external  and  the  essential  part  of  whatever  my 
glance  fell  upon.  The  reader  will  perhaps  arrive  at  a 
clearer  understanding  of  what  is  here  meant  to  be 
conveyed  if  this  double  power  be  thus  illustrated  :  A 
person  may  look  through  one  glass  vase  at  several 
others,  many  colored,  within  it,  the  last  of  which  con- 
tains the  image  of  a  man,  in  still  finer  glass, — Ms  eye 
resting  upon  the  surface  of  each  particular  vase,  yet  at 
the  same  time  penetrating  and  grasping  the  whole. 
Thus  it  Avas  in  the  present  case :  I  saw, — and  what 
obtained  of  that  student  in  the  room  obtains  of  all  im- 
mortal beings, — the  clothes;  beneath  the  clothing  his 
body  ;  and  interfilling  that,  as  water  does  a  sponge,  I 
beheld  the  spiritual  man. 

Here  let  me  define  a  few  terms  :  Body  is  that  which 
is  purely  material,  corporeal,  dense,  weighable,  atomical 
or  particled  ;  spirit  is  a  thing  of  triplicity  :  in  the  most 
external  sense,  that  which  interpenetrates,  flows 
through,  from,  and  constitutes  the  life  of  material  exist- 
ences is  spirit ;  second,  the  great  menstruum  in  which 
the  universe  floats  and  has  its  being  is  spirit,  but  vastly 
different  from  the  foregoing  ;  and  third,  the  mental 
operations,  as  well  as  their  results,  are  spiritual — a 
man's  thought,  for  instance.  Great  care  must  be  taken 
to  distinguish  these  last  two  from  the  first,  which  is  the 
effluvium  from,  or  surrounding  aura  of  all  material 
forms  and  things.  Soul  is  that  more  stately  principle 
and  thing  which  thinks,  feels,  tastes,  sees,  knows,  as- 
pires, suffers,  hates,  loves,  fears,  calculates  and  enjoys. 

Hoping  that  these  definitions  will  be  retained,  and 
9 


194  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

that  my  meaning  only  will  be  given  to  the  terms  used, 
we  will  now  proceed.  I  became  a  rapt  observer,  not  of 
the  man  in  the  study,  as  a. person,  but  as  a  rare  mechan- 
ism. The  clothes  he  wore,  emitted  a  dull,  faint,  leaden- 
hued  cloud,  perfectly  transparent,  and  extending  about 
three  inches  from  their  surface  in  all  directions.  His 
body  was  apparently  composed  of  orange-colored  flame, 
and  its  emanations  reached  to  the  distance  of  fifteen 
feet  on  all  sides  ;  it  penetrated  the  wood-work,  walls, 
chairs,  tables, — all  with  which  it  came  in  contact ;  and 
I  noticed  two  facts  :  first,  that  its  form  was  an  oblate 
spheroid,  and  second,  that  a  portion  of  it  adhered  to 
whatever  he  touched. 

Thus  it  is  true  that  a  man  leaves  a  portion  of  himself 
wherever  he  may  chance  to  go  :  this  explains  why  a  dog 
is  enabled  to  trace  his  master  through  the  streets  of  a 
crowded  city.  *  *  *  *  *  When  the  man  rose  to  silence 
the  noise  of  his  children,  I  -discerned  the  form  of  this 
sphere,  in  the  centre  of  a  similar  one  of  which  every 
created  being  stands.  Its  poles  were  the  head  and  feet, 
and  its  equator,  whose  bulge  exceeded  the  polar  dimen- 
sions about  one-fortieth,  was  directly  on  the  plane  of  the 
abdominal  centre.  This  sphere  penetrated  that  of  the 
clothes  ;  and,  although  it  was  so  marvelously  fine,  still 
it,  like  its  exemplar — a  large  soap-bubble — appeared  to 
be  particled,  or  heterogeneous.  Within  the  physical 
body  of  the  man  there  was  a  second,— itself  constituting 
another  human  form,  like  the  vase  within  a  vase.  The 
substance  of  this  last  was  beautiful  and  pearly  ;  its  mass 
was  apparently  in  perfect  coalescence, — indivisible, 
atomless  and  unparticled.  This  was  the  man's  true 
shell — his  house,  his  home, — the  outbirth  of,  but  not 
the  man  himself. 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  195 

And  now  the  question  is  asked  me  :  "  What  consti- 
tutes the  ego:  what,  is  the  man?"  The  answer' is  : 
Soul  is  a  thing  sui  generis,  and  unique.  Sight,  taste, 
and  the  senses  generally,  are  some  of  its  properties  ; — 
reflection,  reason,  and  fancy  are  a  few  of  its  qualities  ; 
— judgment  its  prerogative  ; — physical  scenes  its  thea- 
tre ;— earthly  experience  its  school  ; — and  the  second 
life  its  university,  whence  it  will  graduate  to — what  ? 
This  shall  bye-and-bye  be  answered.  Time  is  but  one 
of  a  vast  multitude  of  other  phases  of  existence,  through 
which  it  yet  must  pass.  We  know  something  about 
its  propensities,  powers,  methods  and  qualities ;  but 
only  a  very  little  about  the  soul  itself.  We  realize 
somewhat  of  its  accidents  and  incidents,  and  not  much 
else  beside.  Most  assuredly,  modern  "  Spiritualism" 
has  not  added  much  to  our  knowledge  ;  it  may  do  so 
in  the  future,  but  some  of  us  do  not  like  to  wait. 

The  human  being  may  be  likened  unto  a  circular 
avenue,  divided  by  a  central  wall,  which  separates  the 
known  from  the  unknown.  We  begin  at  the  centre  of 
this  wall,  our  conscious  point,  and  look  toward  the 
outer  edge  of  the  circle  ;  we  see  one  hemisphere,  and 
one  only.  What  pertains  to  the  other  hemisphere, — 
the  one  behind  this  conscious  point  ?  Make  the  trial  to 
ascertain  what  lies  on  the  thither  side  ;  seek  to  fathom 
the  soul  within  you,  and  what  results  ?  Why  the  wall 
is  reached,  nothing  more  ;  you  strike  it,  think  it,  feel 
of  it,  but  cannot  recede  from  nor  look  behind  yourself. 
But  that  there  is  a  greater  mystery  behind  tlian  the  one 
before  you  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  your  entire  being 
is  but  the  result  of  an  infinite,  propulsive  power,  which 
whirled  you  into  being,  but  will  never  hurl  you  out. 


196  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

There  is  a  point  reachable,  quite  beyond  that  of  outer 
consciousness. 

Well,  the  man  strove  to  baffle  the  tendency  to  som- 
nolence. His  brain  was  one  living  mass  of  phosphor- 
like luminescence ;  there  was  a  large  and  brilliant 
globe,  apparently  of  white  fire-mist,  encompassing  the 
head.  Its  center  rested  exactly  on  what  anatomists 
call  the  corpus  callosum  ;  and  this  body — this  central 
cerebral  viscus — I  affirm  to  be  the  seat  of  conscious- 
ness,— the  blazing  throne  of  the  Immortal  Soul ! 

On  other  occasions  I  have  beheld  similar  bright 
globes  of  what  can  only  be  compared  to  pure  fire. 
Others  claim  to  have  witnessed  the  same  ;  they  have 
described  it,  and  uniformly,  nay,  invariably  locate  this 
ball  on  the  precise  spot  indicated.  The  volume  of  this 
singular  something,  varies  in  different  people,  from  the 
bulk  of  a  large  pea  to  some  three  or  four  inches  in  mean 
diameter,  in  which  latter  case  it,  of  course,  has  only  its 
axis  in  the  place  indicated,  while  its  body  penetrates 
the  circumjacent  brain.  The  effulgence,  as  the  volume, 
also  varies  in  different  persons.  In  some  it  is,  compar- 
atively speaking,  no  brighter  than  the  flame  of  a  good 
candle,  while  in  others  it  is  an  infinite  intensification  of 
the  dazzling  radiance  of  the  Drummond  or  the  calcium 
light.  In  the  man  before  me  this  globe  was  nearly  a 
perfect  sphere  ;  in  other  instances  I  have  observed  its 
shape  to  be  somewhat  angular.  The  better  the  per- 
son, the  greater  the  intelligence  (intuitive,  not  mere 
memory-learning),  the  larger,  smoother,  and  rounder  is 
this  wondrous  Soul-Sun.* 


*  This  central  globe  is  the  sun  of  the  microcosm  ;  a  duller  globe  of 
fire,  situated  behind  the  stomach,  in  the  Solar  Plexus,  is  its  moon,  and 
the  phreno-organs  are  the  stars  ;  the  Passional  organs  are  the  planets  ; 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  197 

In  the  student  I  beheld  the  operations  of  this  great 
mystery  ;  whenever  the  drowsiness  came  over  him — 
and  he  exerted  his  will  to  keep  it  off— I  noticed  that 
one  side  of  this  winged  globe  (for  there  were  two 
wing-like  appendages  attached  thereto,  something  like 
the  connections  of  the  uterus)  would  collapse,  and 
straightway  a  perfect  stream  of  radiant  fire-flecks  went 
forth  in  the  opposite  direction,  like  spark-rays  from  the 
sun.  These  confiscations  sped  through  all  parts  of  the 
brain,  causing  ij  to  sparkle  more  brightly  ;  they  ran 
along  the  nerves,  leaped  to  the  muscles,  and  diffused  new- 
life  and  animation  throughout  the  body, — which  being 
accomplished,  the  globe  resumed  its  former  shape  again. 
This  struck  me  as  being  at  once  both  sublime  and 
curious  ;  but  something  still  more  so  now  took  place. 

As  I  observed  above,  when  he  strove  to  keep  awake, 
the  globe  became  indented,  from  the  outside,  which  was 
generally  smooth, — albeit  a  countless  multitude  of  filmy 
rays  of  light  streamed  forth  in  all  directions — the  sur- 
face meanwhile  retaining  its  polished,  burnished,  and 
ineffably  dazzling  general  appearance. 

The  man  laid  down  his  book,  lifted  a  pen,  dipped  it 
in  the  inkstand,  held  it  over  the  table  for  a  while,  and 
appeared  to  be  concentrating  his  thoughts ;  and  while 
he  did  so  the  winged  globe  within  his  head  began  to 
enlarge  until  it  occupied  not  less  than  four  times  its 
original  space  within  the  brain,  This  it  did  gradually, 
and  as  gradually  resumed  its  former  bulk  ;  but,  in  the 
mean  time,  his  hand  had  flown  over  the  paper,  and  the 
man  had  indited  a  Thought  !     Anxious  to  know  what 


the  Sensations  are  the  meteors,  &c,  &c,  there  being  not  merely  a 
perfect  correspondence,  but  a  wonderful  similarity,  complete  and 
full,  between  the  universe  without  and  the  universe  within. 


198  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

this  thought  was,  I  looked  upon  the  paper,  and  was 
surprised  by  observing  a  very  curious  phenomenon. 
The  words  written  upon  the  paper  were  :  "  The  an- 
cients were  far  behind  the  moderns  in  general  intelli- 
gence, but  far,  very  far  beyond  them  in  isolated  instances 
of  mental  power.  Probably  the  simplicity  of  the  lives 
of  devout  men  of  yore  had  a  powerful  influence  in 
bringing  out  the  concealed  treasures,  and  in  developing 
the  extraordinary  conceptive  power  which  not  a  few  of 
them  undoubtedly  possessed.  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Job  and 
the  great  Cathayan  have  never  been  equaled,  in  their 
several  specialties,  by  men  of  later  times  ;  it  is  ex- 
tremely doubtful  if  they  ever  will  be.  Eeally  great 
men  are  few  and  scarce  in  any  age,  but  popular  men 
are  plentiful  in  all  eras.  It  is  only  the  sad-hearted 
man, — he  who  stands  and  walks  alone  in  the  crowded 
cities  of  the  world,  shunned,  laughed  at,  derided, 
scorned  and  unsupported, — who  succeeds  in  engraving 
a  name  upon  the  walls  of  Time  ;  and  of  all  that  ever 
lived,  Jesus,  the  Nazarene,  looms  up  in  such  magnificent 
proportions,  over  the  edges  of  the  dead  years,  that  we 
instinctively  know  that  he  was  a  real  personage, — one 
who  lived  and  loved,  suffered  and  died  with,  for,  and 
among  men ;  and  we  reject  the  absurdities  of  Strauss 
and  the  Cavilers,  and  triumphantly  proclaim  that  Jesus 
was  not  a  myth.  He  sought  to  do  good,  and  not  to  merit 
the  plaudits  of  the  mob,  or  of  those  who  rule.  A  popu- 
lar man  is  one  who  keeps  just  within  the  front  ranks  of 
the  human  army,  leading  it  whither  its  fancy  and  whim 
may  at  the  moment  prompt ;  but  a  great  man  is  one 
who  volunteers  to  become  the  pioneer  of  the  race,  and 
is,  at  the  same  time,  the  Herald  of  the  coming  age  of 
Goodness.     He  feels  the  pulse  of  God  in  his  heart, — 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  199 

and  lie  knows  to  live  and  lives  to  know.  We  are  ap- 
proaching an  era  when  human  genius  shall  be  the  rule, 
and  not  the  exception,  as  now.  When  that  day  shall 
dawn,  the  earth  will  fully  blossom.  It  has  painfully 
labored  heretofore,  and  brought  forth  abortions — per- 
fect, seemingly,  to  their  contemporaries,  but,  in  view  of 
her  yet  untested  energies,  abortions  still.'7 

Now,  the  ink  had  scarcely  dried  upon  the  paper,  and 
yet  the  dark  violet  of  the  aura,  emitted  by  it  when  in 
the  inkstand,  and  which  rose  from  the  paper  wherever 
the  pen  touched  it,  was  almost  immediately  obscured 
by  a  far  brighter  one,  which  proceeded  from  the  gene- 
ral writing  ;    by  which   I  discovered   that   thoughts 

WERE  LIVING  THINGS,  ENDOWED  WITH  A  BEING  IN  THEM- 
SELVES !  This  thought  was  really  a  part  of  the  man 
himself.  I  beheld  a  small  cell  within  the  winged  globe 
open  and  emit  a  line  of  fire,  which  leaped  to  one  of  the 
cerebral  organs,  passing  up  one  of  the  fibrils  and  down 
the  other — thence  to  a  nerve  along  it  to  the  arm,  the 
pen,  and  to  the  paper,  where  it  became  diffused  and 
sealed  in  the  inky  letters.  And  at  that  moment  it  came 
to  me,  from  the  far-off  regions  of  positive  Knowledge, 
that,  should  the  paper  containing  the  ideas  be  burnt,  yet 
the  thought  itself  could  never  perish,  because  it  was 
part  and  parcel  of  a  Soul ;  but  it  would  float  about 
in  the  human  world — at  some  time  be  absorbed  into  a 
human  soul,  undergo  a  new  gestation,  and  in  due  time 
be  born  again  into  the  conscious  realm  around  us. 

Much  more  the  man  wrote  ;  but  at  length  his  weary 
task  and  the  sultry  weather  overpowered  him,  and, 
rising  from  his  seat,  he  closed  the  blinds,  threw  himself 
upon  the  lounge,  and  in  a  few  minutes  was  fast  asleep. 
While  watching  the  process,  I  became  aware,  for  the 


200  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

first  time,  that  I  was  being  practically  educated  by  a 
glorious  being — an  inhabitant  of  the  Soul-world — whose 
presence  was  now  made  clear,  direct  and  palpable. 
This  bright  one  conversed  with  me  by  a  process  not 
easily  explained,  but  an  idea  of  which  may  be  gained  if 
we  call  it  infusion  of  thought.  His  lips  moved  not,  and 
yet  the  full  meaning  he  intended,  was  transmitted,  even 
morex  perfectly  than  if  by  the  use  of  words.  Such  be- 
ings can  speak,  but  not  so  effectively  as  by  the  silent 
language. 

The  object  of  his  visit,  he  said,  was  to  instruct  me  in 
certain  essentials  with  reference  to  future  usefulness  on 
my  part,  but  principally  that  the  world  might  gain  cer- 
tain needed  light  upon  the  soul,  and  its  career,  through 
a  book  or  books  thereafter  to  be  written.  His  name, 
he  said,  was  Ramus — that,  in  history,  he  was  best 
known  as  Thothmes,  or  Thotmor,  and  that  he  was  an 
Egyptian,  of  the  second  dynasty — a  king,  and  the  elev- 
enth of  the  line. 

This  was  all  I  learned  of  him  at  that  time  ;  for  after 
the  brief  introduction,  he  pointed  toward  the  man  upon 
the  sofa,  and  bade  me  "  Look  !"  The  man  was  wrapt 
in  deep  sleep,  and  the  winged  globe  within  his  head 
was  rapidly  altering  its  shape.  First,  it  flattened  out  to 
a  disk  ;  this  disc  concaved  toward  the  skull ;  then  it 
put  forth  a  point  in  the  direction  of  the  medulla  oblon- 
gata, into  which  it  rapidly  passed,  entered  the  spinal- 
marrow,  and  ran  along  the  vertebrae  until  it  reached 
the  vicinity  of  the  stomach.  Here  it  left,  and  instantly 
immerged  itself  within  the  solar  plexus.  The  man  was  in 
a  death-like,  dreamless  slumber.  "  The  soul/7  said  Thot- 
mor, "  has  gone  to  infuse  new  life  throughout  the  physi- 
cal body,  in  doing  which  it  also  recuperates  its  own  en- 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  201 

ergies.  Souls  can  grow  tired,  but  they  find  rest — not  in 
inactivity,  as  doth  the  body,  but  by  a  change  of  action. 
The  mathematician,  weary  of  figures,  finds  repose  by 
performing  chemical  experiments  or  in  studying  music. 
That  man's  soul  is  now  supplying  fuel  to  the  body,  by 
converting  the  essences  of  his  system  into  the  pabulum 
of  life.  Presently  its  task  will  be  finished,  whereupon  it 
will  again  resume  its  seat  upon  the  regal  throne  of  its 
own  mighty  world."        ***** 

Thotmor  ceased  to  speak.  I  turned  from  the  sleeper 
in  wondering  awe,  and,  guided  by  the  rare  being  at  my 
side,  felt  that  I  was  once  more  rising  through  the  air. 


Turn  where  we  will,  ask  whom  we  may,  for  informa- 
tion, we  are  sure  to  be  met  with  the  stereotyped  "  Know 
thyself."  As  well  tell  me  to  leap  over  the  salt  sea  !  I 
ask  all  mankind,  the  ocean,  land,  air,  sun,  moon,  stars, 
history — everything  else,  both  material  and  mental, 
sacred  and  profane — to  point  me  out  a  single  human 
being  who  really  knows  himself,  or  even  approximately 
so.  Where,  I  ask,  is  the  wonderful  mortal — tell,  0  tell 
me  where  ? — and  from  hollow  space  the  echoes^  mock 
me — where  ? 

To  know  oneself !  The  words-  are  easily  spoken  or 
penned  ;  but  to  do  it,  is,  of  all  things,  the  hardest  and 
most  difficult ;  for  this  very  selfhood's  personality  is, 
beyond  all  others,  the  special  acquaintance  of  whom  we 
know  the  least. 

The  sentence  "  Know  thyself"  was  written  over  the 
porch  of  an  ancient  temple.  The  man  who  placed  it 
there  must  have  been  deeply  spiced  with  satire  and  cyni- 

Q* 


202  dealings  With  the  dead. 

cism,  else  he  certainly  would  have  assigned  mankind  a 
task  less  arduous — a  task  compared  to  which  the  twelve 
labors  of  Hercules  were  mere  child's  play.  Now,  al- 
though this  feat  may  never  have  been  accomplished,  still 
it  lies  within  the  range  of  the  possibilities  ;  and  in  de- 
claring that  a  man  may,  by  study,  find  out  both  himself 
and  God,  I  fly  in  the  face  of  current  philosophy,  and 
deny  the  truth  of  the  noted  dogma  of  modern  sophists, 
that  "It  is  impossible  for  a  man  to  explore  the  laby- 
rinths of  his  own  nature  : — a  principle  cannot  compre- 
hend itself."  Why  is  the  logic  of  this  doctrine  faulty  ? 
Because,  first,  God  can  certainly  comprehend  man.  All 
there  is  of  man  is  mind  ;  all  there  is  of  Deity  is  the 
same.     A  principle  thus  comprehends  itself. 

Man  is  God's  image,  and  can  do  on  a  small  what  He 
does  on  an  infinite  scale ;  and  the  only  difference  be- 
tween Deity  and  a  full  man  simply  is,  that  the  former 
can  comprehend  the  parts  of  the  Realm  separately  and 
together,  while  the  latter  can  only  grasp  each  truth  as 
it  swims  to  him  on  the  rolling  waves  of  Time's  great 
sea;  yet,  so  far  as  he  goes,  he  comprehends  himself. 
The  day  will  dawn  when,  looking  back  at  what  he  was, 
he  shall  fully  understand  the  mystery  ;  and  as  he  ad- 
vances, he  will  continually  read  the  foregone  scrolls, 
while  new  accrements  of  being  will  ever  be  his — each 
one  in  turn  to  undergo  the  scrutiny,  each  one  to  be  fully 
understood,  and  so  on  forever  and  for  aye.  Were  it 
not  so,  Being  would  be  worthless  and  our  existence  a 
dreadful  farce.  Secondly  :  Intuition  has  already  been 
proved  to  be  the  shoot,  of  which  Omniscience  is  the 
tree — which  fact  disposes  of  the  absurd  dogma  just 
quoted,  and  forever. 

There  are   two   mighty   problems   up  for   solution. 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  20/ 

These  are  :  "  What  and  where  is  God  ?"  on  which  I 
intend  to  write  some  day  ;  and  the  other  is,  "  What  is 
the  Soul  ?"  which  I  am  now  partially  solving.  This 
last  has  proved  itself  to  be  the  profound  est  of  all  ques- 
tions, and  very  difficult  of  solution  ;  but  only  so  because 
investigators  have  mistaken  their  vocation,  and  an- 
alyzed a  few  of  the  faculties,  qualities,  and  affections  of 
the  mind — all  the  while  imagining  the  soul  itself  to  be 
under  their  microscopes — whereas  the  soul  was  calmly, 
placidly  looking  on,  and  wondering  why  they  were  so 
busily  intent  upon  examining  the  furze  and  bushes,  in- 
stead of  the  deep,  rich  soil  whence  they  sprung. 

Faculty,  Fancy  and  Dream-life  are  but  three  of  the 
Soul's  most  common  moods ;  and  yet  metaphysicians 
have  confined  themselves  to  but  little  else  than  their 
analysis.  These  are  but  three  little  rays  from  amidst 
a  multitude  of  others,  proceeding  from  one  common 
source ;  yet,  if  even  these  were  all  analyzed,  understood, 
and  known,  the  great  center  whence  they  emanate 
would  still  remain  as  great  a  mystery  as  ever.  Nearly 
all  that  we  know  of  soul  is  really  not  of  it,  but  of  its 
methods  of  display. 

There  is  something  more  of  man  than  life,  limb,  sense- 
faculty,  affections,  feeling  and  sex.  There's  a  depth 
beneath  them  all,  and  into  these  deeps  I  believe  it  pos- 
sible to  dive,  and  to  bring  up  many  a  pearl,  and  crys- 
tal, and  grains  of  golden  sand  from  the  floor  of  his 
being— from  out  the  silver  sea  of  life,  whose  waters 
flow  soul-ward,  and  have  their  rise  beneath  the  throne, 
whereon  sitteth  for  evermore  the  Infinite  Eternal — the 
great  I  am  :  Aye,  it  is  possible  to  know  oneself,  not- 
withstanding that,  to  ninety-nine  persons  in  a  hundred, 
there  seems  to  be  an  impenetrable  cloud,  circumvolving 


204  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

them — an  obscurity,  thick  as  darkest  night,  hemming 
them  in  on  all  sides.  Yes,  thank  Heaven!  man  can 
untie  the  gordian  knot,  and  triumphantly  pass  the  Ru- 
bicon, but  not  over  the  bridge  of  Mesmerism,  obsession, 
drugs,  or  any  of  the  ordinary  means  usually  resorted 
to  ;  but  through  the  continued  exertion  of  steadfast- 
ness, attention,  purpose,  and  will — the  four  golden 
posts  to  which  are  hung  the  double  gates,  which  open 
in  both  worlds. 

Souls  are,  of  course,  the  subjects  of  number,  and  in 
this  sense  are  "particles," — souls  of  course  being  plural; 
yet  soul  is  not,  for  although  you  may  subtract  forty- 
eight  from  forty-nine,  and  leave  a  remaining  unit,  yet 
that  unit  is  absolutely  one;  and  you  could  no  more  dis- 
member it,  than  you  could  find  the  lost  particles  of  dust 
upon  a  midge's  wing.  Spirit  is  substance  in  absolute 
coalescence  ;  matter  is  substance,  whose  particles  never 
touch  each  other  ;  and  soul  is  a  developed  monad.  A 
thought  of  a  house  is,  until  that  thought  be  actualized — 
surrounded  with  matter  conforming  to  its  shape — a 
monad.  There  was  a  period  when  God  was  alone  ;.  he 
thought,  and  the  product  of  that  thought  is  the  material 
universe,  as  we  see  it ;  he  thought  iigain — and  lo  !  those 
thoughts,  each  one  complete  in  itself,  took  outer  gar- 
ments, and  became  human  beings.  Far  off,  in  the  past 
eternities,  God's  thoughts  went  forth ;  these  were  the 
monads.  First,  they  entered  into  lower  forms,  then 
higher  and  higher,  till  at  last  they  reached  organiza- 
tions adapted  to  the  perfect  ripening  of  that  which  had 
all  along  been  growing.  The  ripening  produced  In- 
telligence :  that  intelligence  is  the  soil,  out  of  which 
Intuition  grows  ;  and  what  this  last  advances  to,  we 
already  know.     How  long,  and  through  what  countless 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.        205 

numbers  of  diverse  forms,  these  transmigrations  lasted, 
and  passed,  it  were  impossible  to  tell.  We  all  have 
indistinct  retrovisions,  flashes  of  back-thought,  dim  and 
vague  reminiscences  of  a  pre-state  of  existence  ;  and 
we  also  know,  that  there  are  marvelous  resemblances 
between  men  and  the  animal  creation,  just  as  if  the 
soul,  on  quitting  an  inferior  for  a  superior  form,  re- 
tained something  of  its  former  surroundings  and  char- 
acteristics. Some  men  physically  resemble  the  ox,  lion, 
tiger,  dog,  owl,  bat,  deer  ;  and  we  know  that  myriads 
resemble  in  their  mentality  the  traits  of  character,  hab- 
its and  dispositions  pertaining  to  all  these  animals,  and 
others,  as  the  fox,  snake,  eagle,  peacock,  swine,  and  so 
on  to  the  end  of  a  long  chapter.  "When  I  was  a  flow- 
er,'7 said  a  little  child.  That  child  had  an  intuition  of 
a  mighty  fact ! 

Xow  all  these  astonishing  likenesses  are  not  acci- 
dental, but  exist  in  accordance  with  the  great  law  of 
Transmigration.  Mind  me  :  I  do  not  say,  or  believe, 
that  any  man  or  woman  was  ever  a  dog,  viper,  vampire- 
bat  or  tiger ;  but  I  do  affirm  that  the  monads,  which  now 
constitute  their  souls,  once  sustained  a  very  close  rela- 
tionship to  the  beasts  of  the  field,  and  have  not  yet  got 
rid  of  the  effects  of  the  alliance.  This  is  a  matter  too 
clear  to  be  disputed  :  else,  why  these  very  remarkable 
resemblances  ?  I  know,  that  some  people  will  "  pooh  ! 
pooh!'7  at  this  idea  ;  but  that  wont  account  for  the 
likeness  !  A  man  never  was  a  dog,  or  an  owl ;  yet,  that 
both  dogs  and  owls  were  originally  made,  in  order  that 
the  human  monad,  in  passing  a  sort  of  gestation  period 
in  them,  might  be  ripened  slowly,  and  prepared  for  what 
he  is  now,  I  have  at  present  no  manner  of  doubt.  In- 
deed, human  bodies,  both  physical  and  spiritual,  are  but 


206  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

other  and  higher  forms,  to  which  the  Winged  Globe, 
Man,  has  transmigrated  in  its  passage  from  minus  to 
plus — from  bad  to  better,  and  from  better  to  best.  A 
dog,  owl,  bat  or  human  body  is  only  so  much  matter  ; 
and  the  sole  business  of '  matter ?  is  to  furnish  so  many 
different  sorts  of  huts,  houses,  and  palaces  for  spirit- 
ual tenants, wherein  the  primary  schools  maybe  attended 
by  the  regal  student-soul.  I  Jcnoiu  that  even  the  disen- 
thralled spiritual  body  is  itself  but  a  mere  vehicle  of 
Soul,  on  its  next  upward  transmigration — is  still  but 
an  adjunct,  an  out-projection  of,  and  scarcely  second 
cousin  to,  the  tremendous  mystery — Soul — the  Winged 
Globe  within  it.  We  know  that  man  can  live  without  his 
carbonaceous  body,  which  is  but  an  incidental  assump- 
tion in  his  career,  a  sort  of  garb,  worn  at  the  longest 
less  than  a  century;  that  this  period  is  scarce  one  sec- 
ond in  its  immense  year  ;  and  that  he  can  see  without 
eyes,  and  know  without  cerebral  organs. * 

It  is  an  axiom  that  whatever  has  one  end,  must  also 

*  Many  persons  desire  to  know  how  to  produce  and  cultivate  clair- 
voyance. To  such  I  present  the  following  rules,  knowing  them  to  .he 
efficient,  and  only  requiring  patience  for  success.  1st,  Set  apart  the 
first  hour  after  retiring  to  bed  nightly.  Eat  a  light  supper  ;  bind  a 
light  silk  bandage  over  the  entire  forehead  and  eyes,  turn  the  face  to- 
ward the  darkest  corner  of  the  room,  and  endeavor  to  see.  2d,  Never 
call  on  a  spirit  to  assist  you.  3d,  Keep  the  skin  pure  by  daily  ablu- 
tions. 4th,  Learn  to  concentrate  the  mind  on  a  single  object,  and 
keep  it  there.  5th,  Fix  it  on  something  good,  useful  and  true.  6th, 
Pray  fervently  to  God.  7th,  Ask  a  mental  question,  and  desire  that 
the  symbolic  answer  may  be  given.  8th,  Wish  well  to  everything  and 
everybody. 

The  results  will  be — 1st,  You  will  see  a  dim  haze.  2d,  A  spark  of 
light.  3d,  A  greater  light.  4th,  Misty  forms  will  float  before  you. 
5th,  They  will  grow  distinct.  6th,  Answers  will  flow  into  your  mind. 
7th,  You  will  gradually  merge  into  a  radiant  light  ;  behold  the  actual 
dead,  converse  with  them,  and  realize  your  soul's  desire. 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         207 

have  another  :  now,  if  a  human  soul  has  its  first  begin- 
ning here,  no  thins:  is  more  certain  than  that  it  will  have 
an  end  somewhere.   But  the  soul  is  mind — mind  is  God : 
and  God  is  eternal.     He  ever  existed,  and  ever  will ; 
and  the  monads,  the  germ-souls  here  developed,  and 
hereafter  perfected,  are  also  eternal ;  they  existed  in  all 
times  past,  and  can  never  cease  to  be,  for  their  very 
nature  is  Permanency.     All  bodies  here,  or  elsewhere, 
are  but  accompaniments — instruments,  tools  of  the  royal 
spirit  in  one  or  more  of  its  multitudinous  phases  of  ex- 
istence— that  is  to  say,  it  creates,  uses,  and  puts  them 
on  to  serve  its  purposes,  till  it  can  afford  to  dispense 
with  them  :  for  human  existence  is  a  synonym  of  Eter- 
nal Duration — is  an'immense  circle  :  a  circle  is  but  an 
infinite  polygon  :  and  bodily  vehicles  serve  the  soul's^ 
purposes  during  its  passage  over  a  very   few   of  the 
straight  lines  whereof  this  polygon  is  composed.     And, 
beyond  all  doubt,  the  period  will  arrive— it  may  be 
away  in  the   far-off  eternities — but  nevertheless  will 
arrive,  wherein  the  soul  will  dispense  with  all  these 
characteristics  of  its  juvenility.   No  one  associates  legs, 
arms,  eyes,  stomach,  or  sexual  organs,  with  the  idea  of 
God :  why  then  should  such  things  be  eternally  predi- 
cated of  man,  who  is  fashioned  after  the  model  of  the 
Infinite  God  Himself? 

The  body  of  a  man  is  a  greater  thing  than  any  object 
on  earth  beside ;  is  far  greater  than  even  the  physical 
world  in  which  he  lives,  because  it  is  the  master  pro- 
duction of  all  the  elements  and  forces  in  that  world. 
The  spiritual  form  that  man  assumes,  and  to  which  he 
may  be  said  to  transmigrate  after  the  physical  decease, 
is  of  far  more  importance,  and  altogether  greater  than 
is  his  previous  physical   and  material  structure.     A 


08  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

single  faculty  of  his  measureless  soul  is  infinitely  greater 
than  the  spirit,  nor  may  even  an  archangel  comprehend 
fully  one  of  these  faculties,  at  a  glance,  in  view  of  its 
limitless  and  expansive  power.  From  one  point  he  may 
comprehend  what  the  faculty  was  and  is,  but  not  what 
it  can  be:  yet  the  soul  itself  has  untold  myriads  of 
these  ;  and  only  God  himself  can  embrace  all  at  one 
mental  grasp — He  alone  can  fully  and  perfectly  know 
a  soul  as  it  was,  is,  and  is  to  be.  This  does  not  con- 
flict with  previous  assertions  that  a  soul  can  compre- 
hend itself ;  for  God's  omniscience  embraces  the  past, 
the  present,  and  the  future :  manonly  seizes  upon  the 
first  two.  Virtue  and  Vice,  and  the  organs  it  now 
uses,  are  but  incidents  in  the  career  of  this  undee-God. 
These  things  are  of  time — are  transitory  and  fleeting ; 
but  the  man  is  forever  !  In  view  of  this,  what  is  a  vice, 
what  is  accident  to  this  majestic  being — the  perfected 
work  of  the  viewless  L'ord  of  Infinite  Glory? 

They  are  but  flecks  upon  the  rose-leaf — atoms  on  a 
moon-beam  !  The  immortal  man  is  not  fashioned  of 
such  material  as  can  be  forever  marred  by  vice,  forever 
happy  in  what  now  constitutes  the  virtues.  Its  destiny 
is  Action,  and  in  the  perpetual  transmigrations,  con- 
trasts and  changes  of  the  hereafter,  it  will  find  its  truest 
account,  and  the  proper  subservence  of  the  purposes  of 
the  awful  Will  which  spake  it  into  being.  "  Eest  for 
the  weary,"  is  there  ?  There  is  no  rest !  Man  can 
never  eest  !     God  does  not ;   why  then  should  he  ? 

The  immortal  spark  within  is  a  thing  of  ceaseless 
activities  ;  not  in  sins  and  repentances,  but  in  noble 
aspirations  and  high  and  lofty  doing.  Great  God  !  I 
cower  in  the  presence  of  the  tiniest  soul  ever  spoken 
into  being ;  for  I  feel,  by  reason  of  the  great  unveiling. 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         209 

that  occurred  upon  that  wonder-filled  afternoon,  that, 
insignificant  as  it  may  seem,  yet  within  it  there  are 
energies  that  now  lie  sleeping  which  shall  one  day 
awaken  into  Power,  Beauty  and  most  surpassing  Glory. 
Hell  is  its  experience  of  the  unfit,  improper  and  untrue ; 
but  its  wings  are  too  powerful  not  to  lift  it,  in  triumph, 
above  the  flames  and  the  deepest  pit  of  all.  Earthly 
virtues  are  the  offspring  of  contrast ;  vice  consists  in 
bad  calculation,  and  both  will  prove  in  the  great  Far- 
off  to  have  been  but  the  disciplines  ordained  to  fit  it 
for  the  business  of  Good  and  Use  on  the  other  side 
the  curtain  ; — and  I  clap  my  poor  weak  hands  in  glad- 
ness !     Who  with  true  heart  can  help  it  ? 

Man  is  supremely  greater  than,  not  only  law,  that  he 
has  found  it  convenient  to  violate  or  conform  to,  but  to 
any  and-  all  that  it  is  possible  for  him  now  to  con- 
ceive of  or  imagine  ;  because,  in  the  order  of  the  great 
Unveiling,  he  will  discover  and  come  under  the  action 
of  new  ones,  as  the  Night  of  Time  moves  toward  the 
Dawn. 

Those  who  go  about  in  the  exercise  of  benevolent 
offices  are  not  always  the  most  virtuous  ;  nor  are  they 
who  heal  the  sick  and  give  of  their  abundance  to  the 
needy  •  for  all  these  things  are  often  done  for  fashion's 
sake.  But  the  man  or  woman  who  ever  acts  up  to  the 
highest  conviction  of  Right  and  Duty,  even  though 
rack-threatened,  is  the  most  virtuous ;  because  in  so 
doing  the  great  design  of  God,  which  is  individualiza- 
tion, and  of  intensification  of  character,  is  all  the 
sooner  carried  out. 

Human  beings,  male  and  female,  talk  much  of  virtue, 
which  means  strength,  and  loudly  boast  its  possession  ; 
yet  how  very  few  there  are  who  will  stand  up  and  face 


210  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

the  music  which  their  very  talk  may  have  evoked? 
How  they  shrink  when  the  storm  comes  down  ;  how 
they  cower  when  bitter  denunciation  and  abuse  pours 
in  upon  them  from  the  ramparts  of  the  world!  All 
hail  the  giad  and  coming  day,  when  we  shall  be  what 
we  ought !  When  he  who  wears  the  garb  shall  in  very 
deed  prove  himself  a  man,  the  most  glorious  title  on 
earth  save  one,  and  that  one  is — woman  ! 

Once  in  a  while  we  are  greeted  by  the  magnificent 
spectacle  of  a  female  who  dares  to  stand  up  and  prac- 
tically vindicate  her  escutcheon,  not  in  loud  talk  and 
"  strong-minded77  diatribes  against  what  exists,  but  in  v 
her  daily-lived  truth,  and  the  practical  knowledge  of 
those  tender  virtues  which  so  endear  all  true  women  to 
all  true  men.  And  whenever  such  a  woman  crosses  my 
path,  I  rejoice  ;  I  rejoice  in  the  presence  of  such  a  fact, 
and  fold  her  as  a  sister  folds  another  to  her  soul. 
People  are  false  to  the  light  within  them.  It  is  a 
great  thing  to  be  true  to  self— to  stand  forth  the  cham- 
pion of  your  noblest  thought,  when  all  fingers  point  at 
you  with  scorn,  all  heels  are  upraised  to  crush  the  sweet 
life  out  of  yon,  and  when  only  God  and  your  own  stout 
heart  are  on  your  side.  To  do  this, — and.  thank 
Heaven !  some  there  be  who  dare  it, — is  to  be  more 
than  human  :  is  to  be  divine  ;  and  this  heart- wrought 
divinity  allies  us  to  the  immortal  gods.  This  it  is  that 
I  call  virtue. 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  211 


Ifte  g^ttttt— Prowl :  3fe  Wmium. 

As  previously  stated,  it  was  not  possible  for  me  to 
understand  the  nature  of  the  mysterious  power  by 
which,  in  company  of  the  peerless  being,  Thotmor,  I 
volitiouless  clove  the  ambient  air.  "0,  it  was  a  pro- 
jection of  your  soul,"  says  the  modern  novitiate  of  the 
mystic  school.  Not  so,  friend  ;  for  the  Ego  then  and 
there  ascending,  under  the  influence  of  a  power  similar 
in  kind,  but  immensely  superior  in  volume  and  display 
to  itself,  was  not  a  mere  psychical  phasina — a  thing  of 
appearance  only,  and  possessing  no  substantiality  of  its 
own  ;  it  was  no  flimsy  projection  from  the  fancy-fa- 
culty ;  was  not  a  meaningless  substance-void  image  of 
myself.  It  was  no  mere  subjective  state  objectified, 
but  was  indeed  my  very  self,  wearing  the  body  of  im- 
mortality for  a  time,  during  which  certain  lessons  must 
be  and  were  learned,  fully  and  practically,  demon- 
stratively and  perfectly,  so  far  as  the  lessons  went. 
The  man  himself,  and  not  his  mere  shadow  or  ghost  was 
there,  in  proper  form  and  essence,  to  the  end,  no  doubt, 
that  the  mysteries  there  learned  might  be  given,  as 
they  now  practically  are,  to  the  world  of  thinkers. 

As  I,  or  rather  we,  ascended  toward  the  zenith,  it  be- 
gan to  rain  ;  but  this  did  not  incommode  us,  nor  in  any 
way  hinder  the  ascent,  which  was  continued  until  it  be- 
came necessary  to  penetrate  a  dense  region  of  thick, 
black  convolving  cloud  that  was  now  rolling  up  in  vast 
and  heavy  masses  from  the  northern  verge  of  the  im- 
mense horizon,  driven  by  the  fierce  breath  of  a  mighty 
blast.  Looking  earthward,  it  seemed  as  if  the  deep 
black  nightwas  suddenly  going  down  ;  the  wind  howled 


212  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 


through  the  buildings,  and  the  trees  shook,  as  if  with 
mortal  fright  and  terror ;  the  sorrowing  clouds  shed 
great  drops  of  tears,  as  if  mourning  in  comfortless  grief 
over  poor  human  frailty,  while  the  soughing  and  the 
sighing  of  the  sea  was  a  fitting  sympathium  to  their  for- 
lornness  and  despair. 

Thicker  rolled  the  dense  black  pall  over  the  face  of 
the  vaulted  heaven,  hiding  all  its  glories,  and  shrouding 
it  in  the  very  folds  of  gloom,  whose  density  was  only 
relieved  when  the  broad  glare  of  the  lightnings  rushed 
out  upon  the  sky.  The  sheets  of  flame  were  of  various 
colors — violet,  green,  white,  red  and  purple.  The  three 
former  appeared  to  issue  from  the  earth's  surface  ;  the 
others,  from  the  space  above  and  immediately  around 
us.  There  were  occasionally  lines  of  purely  white  fire, 
and  these  took  the  form  of  chains,  every  link  of  which 
carried  ten  thousand  deaths  along  with  it.  These  came 
singly  ;  and  sometimes  two  separate  lines  of  fire  would 
leap  out  from  the  bosom  of  the  clouds  simultaneously, 
but  from  opposite  quarters  of  the  gloom — in  which  case 
they  appeared  to  meet  in  anger,  like  as  if  two  angry 
gods  were  warring  with  each  other,  and  their  junction 
was  instantaneously  followed  by  the  most  terrific  bursts 
of  thunder  that  ever  fell  on  human  hearing  since  the 
mighty  worlds  were  made. 

I  shook  with  mortal  terror  ;  and  this  terror  increased 
and  intensified  into  positive,  almost  unendurable  agony, 
as  crash  after  crash  of  horrible  roaring,  rolling,  burst- 
ing god-cannonry  swept  down  the  vast  concave,  drown- 
ing the  clangor  of  the  mad  winds,  which  were  rushing 
and  rumbling  through  the  spaces,  striving  desperately 
to  rival  and  surpass  the  awful  voice  of  the  electric  god 
himself.     I  felt  that  I  was  lost ;  and  in  that  moment  of 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  213 

anguish,  from  the  deeps  of  my  soul  there  went  forth  a 
prayer  to  Him  whose  presence  and  majesty  was  then 
recognized,  with  heart  bowed  down,  and  with  a  fervency 
never  realized  before.  I  feared  to  be  swept  into  no- 
thingness by  the  tempestuous  breath  of  heaven  ;  I  feared 
to  be  hurled  into  destruction  by  the  driving  blast !  But 
no  ;  for  seemingly  the  wind  passed  through  me,  just  as 
the  electric  current  passes  through  human  or  any  other 
material  bodies,  and  touched  me  not  destroyingly.  The 
fiercest  wind  that  ever  raged  can  never  blow  a  shadow 
from  its  place,  neither  can  it  in  any  way  blow  away  a 
spirit !  for  the  reason,  amongst  others,  that  spirit  is  not 
matter,  any  more  than  is  a  shadow  or  a  sound  substan- 
tial, as  this  last  word  is  generally  defined  ;  hence  wind, 
which  is  a  material  substance,  can  in  no  wise  touch  it. 
And  so  I  was  not  blown  away  before  the  driving  gale. 
"But  suppose  a  column  of  wind,  just  three  yards 
square,  and  moving  at  the  rate  of  two  hundred  miles  an 
hour,  sweeps  toward  the  very  spot  on  which  a  human 
spirit  stands,  or  is ;  it  cannot  turn  this  wind  aside  : 
How,  then,  could  anything  remain  unmoved  ?"  This  is 
the  question  ;  now  the  answer  comes.  A  bar  or  column 
of  sunshine  streams  through  the  air,  and  its  volume  is 
just  three  yards  square.  It  will  require  something  far 
different,  and  much  more  powerful  than  a  column  of  air, 
moving  at  the  rate  of  two  hundred  miles  an  hour,  to 
blow  away  that  sunshine,  or  to  drive  a  hole  through  it ; 
yet  the  sunshine  would  still  be  there,  and  so  would  the 
wind !  This  is  my  answer  to  that  objection.  I  lifted 
up  my  soul  in  unspeakable  thankfulness  and  adoration, 
as  I  realized  that  spirit  was  superior  to  matter,  even  in 
its  most  subtle  and  rarified  forms — superior  even  to  the 
glaring,  seething,  melting,  white  fire  of  the  clouds,  when 


214         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

the   lightning    furnaces   overflow   with  fervent   heat ! 

Safely,  slowly,  majestically  and  holily  we  passed 
through  this  terrible  battle-ground  of  the  elements  ;  and 
to  a  question  internally  framed  and  put,  this  answer 
was  given  by  the  illustrious  being  at  my  side  : 

"  That  you  might  practically  realize  the  indestructi- 
ble nature  of  the  human  being  ;  that  something  of  hu- 
man majesty  might  appear  to  your  understanding  ;  that 
}  ou  might  be  shown  somewhat  of  the  dignity  of  being, 
and  the  royalty  of  things,  elements,  laws  and  principles, 
hast  thou  been  by  me  brought  hither.  This  is  merely 
a  first  lesson — the  mere  Alpha  of  knowledge  ;  but  others 
far  more  important  are  yet  to  follow.     Fear  not !" 

But  this  last  injunction  it  was  utterly  impossible  for 
me — and  would  have  been  for  any  human  being  under 
similar  or  analogous  circumstances — ^to  obey  or  do  ; 
for  what  with  the  dizzy  sense  of  height,  the  sensations 
attendant  upon  the  movement  through  space,  the  glare 
of  the  lightning,  the  elemental  strife,  the  perfect  ob- 
scuration of  my  dwelling  place  (the  earth),  together 
with  an  indefinable  dread  of  a  something  impending, 
and  which  I  might  never  be  able  to  comprehend  ;  this, 
all  this,  had  the  effect  of  almost  palsying  every  faculty 
of  being,  and  blanched  my  very  soul  with  fear  ;  for  the 
rush  and  crush,  the  horrible  din  of  the  tempest,  and  the 
thunder,  made  terror  my  constant  associate.  It  was  as 
if  the  trial  hour  had  come  ;  it  was  like  the  breaking  up 
of  mighty  -mountains  ;  it  was  as  if  a  hungry  earthquake 
were  feeding  on  a  world  !  Instinctively  I  looked  to 
Thotmor  for  protection.  He  smiled  at  my  weakness, 
and  bade  me  remember  that  a  greater  than  himself  was 
present.  Yes,  I  realized  then  that  God  was  there,  and 
I  was  safe ;  for  He  smiled  between  His  frowns,  and 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  215 

whispered  "  I  am  here  I "  -  *  *  *  In  other 
da}' s,  when  I  gave  my  soul  and  body  up  to  the  guidance 
and  control  of  invisible  beings,  whom  I  did  not  know, 
whom  I  did  not  stop  to  prove  and  identify — apocryphal 
persons,  at  the  best — persons  disembodied,  if  indeed 
they  ever  wore  clay  upon  this  footstool — beings  who 
seek  their  own  amusement  at  the  expense  of  human 
dupes — beings  who  take  supreme  pleasure  and  delight 
in  the  exhibition  of  human  weakness — beings  who 
silently,  but  surely,  infuse  the  most  deadly  and.  destruc- 
tive venom,  in  the  shape  of  philosophic  assurances — 
beings  who  mock  at  our  calamity  and  laugh  when  our 
troubles  come,  both  of  which  they  themselves  bring  to 
pass — beings  who  persuade  people  to  believe  in  all  sorts 
of  inanities,  dictate  senseless  platitudes,  and  encourage 
persons  to  believe  themselves  philosophers  when  they 
are  only — fools  !  I  repeat,  when  in  other  days  I  yielded 
to  this  evil  influence — in  other  days,  when  both  God 
and  Thotmor  were  practically  ignored  and  forgotten — 
in  other  days,  when  the  pride  and  power  of  Eloquence 
turned  me  from  the  Useful — an  eloquence  weird  and 
almost  magic,  that  welled  up  through  my  soul  and  went 
forth  from  eye,  and  tongue,  and  pen,  and  drew  my  soul 
from  God, — there  came  occasional  twinges  of  regret, 
and  an  assurance  that,  in  forgetting  to  profit  by  the 
teachings  of  that  afternoon,  I  had  bartered  off  priceless 
joys  for  the  empty  bauble  '  worldly  fame  and  ephemeral 
glory ' — that  for  the  hollow  music  of  man's  praises  and  a 
few  claps  of  the  hand,  I  had  given  up  the  Key  to  the 
magnificent  Temple,  one  of  whose  apartments  I  that 
afternoon  entered  for  the  first  time.  Great  God  !  how 
I  have  suffered  for  that  foolish  estrayal— that  fearful 
lege  majeste— that  sflly  vanity  and  supreme  folly  ! 


216  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

We  rose  above  the  fierce  turmoil,  and  for  the  first 
time  a  fair  opportunity  was  presented  for  a  closer  scru- 
tiny of  my  guide.  As  I  drew  nearer  to  him,  he  said — 
not  in  words,  but  in  the  silent  language  used  by  the 
higher  citizens  of  the  Eepublic  of  Souls — "  All  thoughts 
have  shape  :  some  are  sharp,  acute  and  angular,  many- 
pointed,  and  exceedingly  rough.  These  cut  and  bore 
their  way  through  the  worlds  ;  others  are  flat  and  disk- 
like :  these  are  thoughts  that  must  be  incarnated  in 
matter  ere  they  become  useful ;  their  mission  is  to  be 
seen  ;  others  to  he  felt.  Some  thoughts  are  light  and 
fantastic,  like  bubbles  on  the  sea  ;  they  are  beautiful 
while  the  sun  shines,  but  the  very  ray  that  reveals  their 
beauty  also  seals  their  doom — for  the  heat  kills  them  ; 
they  burst,  and  forever  disappear,  being  hollow  and  of 
but  little  substance  :  other  thoughts  are  round,  heavy, 
and  solid  as  a  cannon-ball,  and  like  them,  too,  their 
mission  is  to  batter  down  the  mounds  erected  by  un- 
wise men.  Words  are  but  the  garments  of  thought. 
Geometry  is  the  Soul  of  all  Sciences— order,  symmetry, 
and  form  !  Everything,  dine,  point,  shape,  angle  and 
figure,  corresponds  to  something  in  both  the  Spirit  and 
the  Soul-world  (the  outward  and  inward  Soul-life),  and 
are,  independent  of  magnitude,  absolute  and  arbitrary 
symbols,  embodying  an  absolute  and  fixed  principle  : 
and  every  line,  dot,  point,  shape  or  angle  has  a  fixed 
definition  in  the  lexicon  of  the  Starry  Heavens.*  All 
pure  and  good  thoughts,  being  themselves  full  of  sym- 


*  What  a  stupendous  revelation  is  here !  What  an  astounding  idea  ! 
For,  if  this  statement  be  founded  in  truth,  of  which  there  can  be  but 
little  if  any  doubt,  what  ages  must  elapse  ere  we  be  fully  able  to  read 
the  myriad  volumes  of  God's  great  library — the  boundless  Universe  of 
form,  color,  and  sound. — Pub. 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         217 

metry  and  beauty,  can  only  be  outwardly  conveyed  or 
expressed  ;  if  by  the  voice,  by  harmony,  music  and  ryth- 
mical speech  and  sound  ;  if  by  the  pen  or  type,  only  in 
characters  themselves  geometrically  perfect,  and  harmo- 
niously so. 

"  Now,"  said  Thotmor,  "  you  have  seen  much — heard 
much.  I  have  just  given  you  a  key,  and  to  prove  your 
proficiency  in  learning,  I  propound  a  question.  It  is 
this  :  What  thinkest  thou  of  Nature  ?" 

Now  I,  to  whom  this  was  addressed,  could  not  pre- 
cisely comprehend  what  lie  meant  by  '  Nature ;'  but 
naturally  supposed  that  reference  was  had  to  the  ele- 
mental disturbances  and  the  fearful  exhibition  of  mate- 
rial energy  we  were  witnessing,  and  which  was  at  that 
moment  unabated  in  the  least ;  for  the  storm  still  raged 
with  as  much  fury  as  ever — not  over  the  same  portion 
of  the  earth,  it  is  true,  but  in  its  own  track,  as  it  moved 
on  its  southward  march.  I,  therefore,  answered  in  the 
same  silent  language,  "  that,  in  view  of  all  that  had  just 
been  witnessed,  it  was  evident  that  an  overruling  power 
existed,  ever  wakeful,  ever  on  the  watch  ;  that  His 
power  was  exercised  for  the  greatest  good  of  all  the 
creatures  of  his  love  ;  and  that  God  worked  mysteri- 
ously through  nature,  expressly  to  effect  the  good  of 
human  kind."  To  this  general  answer  he  responded  : 
"  Right  :  but  what  think  you  of  Nature  ?" 

Here  was  a  repetition  of  the  identical  question  al- 
ready propounded.  It  caused  me  to  ponder  a  little 
more  deeply,  and  after  a  while,  thinking  that  this  time 
he  was  perfectly  understood,  I  replied  :  "  It  seems  to 
me  that  what  we  call '  Nature '  is  simply  God  in  action  ; 
and  that  God  in  the  sublimer  sense  is  Deity  in  repose." 

"  Apt  learner,"  said  he,  "  right  again.      But  what 
10 


218  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

thinkest  thou  of  Nature?"  Now  here  was  the  same 
interrogation  a  third  time  repeated.  I  now  determined 
to  study  well  ere  venturing  to  reply.  This  I  did,  all 
the  while  upborne  on  the  air  by  a  force  whose  nature 
was  not  easily  understood,  but  which  I  inwardly  resolved 
to  investigate  and  explore.  The  resolution  was,  as  will 
be  hereafter  seen,  most  faithfully  kept,  with  results 
highly  gratifying  and  satisfactory,  which  will  be  pre- 
sented in  the  sequel  to  this  volume. 

While  delving  in  the  mines  of  my  soul  for  a  proper 
answer,  I  took  notice  that  we  gently  floated  off  and 
upward,  at  an  angle  of  fifty-one  degrees  with  the  hor- 
izon. The  storm  was  going  in  one  direction,  and  we 
in  the  other  ;  so  that  in  a  little  time  we  were  entirely 
beyond  its  influence,  as  was  also  that  portion  of  the 
earth  over  which  it  first  began  to  rage.  There  was  no 
standard  by  which  the  rate  of  our  velocity  could  be 
measured  ;  but  it  must  have  been  prodigious,  judging 
by  the  rapidity  with  which  the  mountains,  rivers  and 
cities  of  the  earth  seemingly  swept  by  us — for  indeed 
there  was  at  this  point  of  the  experience  but  very  little, 
if  any,  sense  of  motion, — no  cutting  of  the  air, — no 
hissing  as  we  passed  through  it ;  but  it  seemed  as  if  we 
were  in  the  center  of  a  large  transparent  globe  or 
sphere,  which  itself  moved  on  as  if  impelled  by  a  force 
entirely  superior  to  that  which  governs  rude  matter. 
The  earth  itself,  from  the  elevation  we  were  at,  seemed 
to  have  lost  its  general  convex  shape,  and  now  looked 
as  if  it  were  a  huge  basin,  so  singularly  did  it  appear 
to  concave  itself.  Instinctively  I  realized  that  this  was 
the  appearance  it  would  naturally  assume  to  a  person 
who  looked  upon  it  through  bodily  eyes  from  the  great 
height  at  which  we  now  were  ;  but  it  was  not  so  easy 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         219 

to  understand  why  a  spirit  whose  sense  of  sight  was 
unimpeded  by  physiological  organs  or  conditions — a 
spirit  to  whom  the  electric  atmosphere,  which  lies  em- 
bosomed in  the  outer  air — served  as  the  vehicle  of  ocular 
knowledge,  should  behold  it  in  the  same  way. 

But  while  studying  the  answer  to  the  first  problem, 
the  solution  of  the  second  came  to  me,  and  I  saw  that 
the  similarity  of  phenomena,  viewed  from  opposite 
states,  was  attributable  solely  to  the  former  habitudes 
of  my  mind,  and  to  the  association  of  ideas. 

Thotmor  saw  my  embarrassment,  and  the  conclusions 
on  the  subject  to  which  I  had  arrived.  "Eight!" 
said  he.  "  But," — ere  another  moment  elapsed  I  re- 
plied :  "I  think  that  Nature  is  a  system  of  active 
forces,  ever  radiating  from  God  as  beams  from  a  star — 
that  they  go  out,  and  as  constantly  return  to  the  point 
whence  they  emanated."  "  Paradox !  Explain  !"  "  I 
mean  that" — here  a  sudden  thought  struck  me,  and  I 
said  to  the  guide,  "  You  have  not  dealt  fairly  by  me  ; 
you  are  not  Thotmor,  an  Egyptian  of  the  early  cen- 
turies ;  on  the  contrary,  I  am  convinced  that  you  have 
disguised  yourself,  and  for  certain  reasons  and  purposes 
of  your  own  assumed  another  name.  You  are — I  feel 
perfectly  convinced  that  you  must  be  Socrates,  the 
philosopher,  come  back  for  a  time  to  pursue  the  old 
and  honorable  avocation, — the  teaching  and  enlight- 
ment  of  the  ignorant ;  for  Socrates  alone,  of  all  earth's 
great  children  of  yore,  was  the  one  who  taught  by 
asking  questions  of  such  as  sought  knowledge  and  wis- 
dom, where  he  sat  to  dispense  them.   Am  I  not  right  ?" 

The  rare  being  gazed  tenderly  down  into  my  eyes,  and 
Ms  countenance  glowed  with  a  radiance  quite  glorious 
and  divine,  as  he  replied  :  "  Yes. — No.     I  am  Socrates 


220         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

and  not  Thotmor  ;  and  still  am  Thotmor  and  not  So- 
crates. Here  is  another  enigma.  Do  you  comprehend? 
Try  ;  for  remember  the  human  soul  is  infinite  in  its 
nature  !  Its  capacities  are  boundless.  You  aspire  to 
comprehend  the  mighty  secret  of  the  Trine.  You 
seek  to  become  an  acolyte  of  the  imperial  order  of  the 
Rosy  Cross,  and  to  re-establish  it  upon  the  earth  ;  and 
no  True  Rosicrucian  dares  shrink  from  attempting 
the  solution  of  the  mysteries  and  problems  that  human 
minds  in  heaven  or  on  earth  may  conceive  or  propound. 
Our  motto — the  motto  of  the  great  order  of  which  I 
was  a  brother  on  the  earth, — an  order  which  has,  under 
a  variety  of  names,  existed  since  the  very  dawn  of  civil- 
ization on  the  earth— is  '  Try.7  " 

Again  the  same  method  ;  again  this  strange  weird 
being  not  only  provokes  to  mental  exertion,  but  reveals 
a  clue  to  millions  of  profound  and  priceless  secrets  ! 

He  is  then  the  great  Ramus,  the  imperial  lord  of  an 
imperial  order, — that  great  and  mystic  brotherhood  at 
whose  power  kings  and  potentates  have  tremblec}  most 
abjectly.  And  this  lordly  being  condescends  to  teach 
a  few  of  the  mysteries  of  Being  to  my  humble  self,  and 
through  me  to  the  world.  How  wonderful !  How  my 
soul  rejoices  !  Yerily,  from  this  day  forth  I  will  en- 
deavor to  prove  worthy  of  the  kingly  favor. 

This  was  my  resolve ;  how  it  was  afterward  forgotten 
has  already  been  stated.  Men  ever  neglect  and  forget 
their  best  friends !  But  even  this  forgetfulness,  so  I  have 
been  told,  was  foreseen  ;  it  was  known  long  years  ago 
that  the  painful  career  since  accomplished,  was  the 
decree  of  a  power  above  my  feebleness,  and  it  was 
known  that  all  the  terrible  sufferings,  trials,  tempta- 
tions and  repentances  were  to  be  instruments  toward 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  221 

high  and  noble  ends,  not  yet  wholly,  but  to  be  wrought 
out  in  His  own  good  time,  who  doeth  all  things  well. 

And  now,  on  this  tenth  day  of  February,  eighteen 
hundred  and  sixty-one,  as  I  look  back  over  the  ruins  of 
the  dead  months,  I  resolve  in  my  soul  to  Try — and,  a*s 
near  as  may  be,  to  approach  the  standard  of  goodness 
and  use  :  for  these  are  the  ends  sought  to  be  attained 
by  the  Order. 

To  resume  :  In  reply,  I  said :  "  Yes,  you  are,  this 
time,  fully  understood  ;  you  are  Thotmor,  but  adopt 
the  methods  of  Socrates,  because  they  are  best  calcu- 
lated for  the  purposes  of  teaching  ;  and  these  methods 
are" — "  "Wisdom's, — and  were  applied  practically  by  the 
great  teacher,"  said  he,  interrupting  the  sentence,  and 
completing  it  for  me,  but  not  quite  as  I  had  intended. 

"  Now,  scholar,  answer  the  first  question,  and  tell  me 
what  you  think  of  Nature  ?" 

"  I  think  that  Nature  is  an  emanation  from  the  Glo- 
rified Person  of  Deity  !  Tell  me,  truly,  is  God  a  per- 
son ?" 

"  As  certainly  and  truly  as  that  you  are  an  individual, 
just  so  certain  and  truly  is  God  an  absolute  Being — 
not  a  mere  king — who,  seated  on  the  Throne  of  thrones, 
watches  the  procession  of  the  worlds  ;  but  the  Inef- 
fable One  is  a  working  God,  who  pursues  His  march 
across  the  vast  Eternities,  reducing  Chaos  as  He  goes, 
and  leaving  a  train  of  luminous  worlds  behind  him. 
You  shall  know  more  of  this  hereafter.  Go  on  :  tell 
me  what  you  think  of  Nature !" 

11  The  principles,  I  think,  are  radiations  from  Jeho- 
vah ;  the  purpose  and  design  of  this  irradiation  must 
be  to  perfect  the  universal  organism  ;  by  a  commingling 
of  forces  and  elements,  by  mutual  and  diverse  action  and 


222         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

counter  action,  the  end  sought  is  doubtless  attained  ; 
and  it  is  through  the  same  agencies  that  He  reduces  to 
Order,  Law,  and  Symmetry  the " 

I  could  go  no  further,  for  the  reason  that  my  concep- 
tion and  descriptive  power  had  run  against  the  wall. 
He  saw  and  pitied,  while  he  completed  the  sentence 
for  me  : 

"  Nebulous  Sy stems,  which  lie  beyond  the  pale  of 

the  inhabited  and  leaking  Universe  of  Forms." 

Whoever  reads  these  pages,  and  clearly  comprehends 
the  meaning  of  his  last  fifteen  words,  can  but  agree 
that  here  was  a  stretch  of  thought  amazing,  and  abso- 
lutely awful  to  even  contemplate.  They  distinctly  im- 
ply that  God  is  still  making  worlds — worlds  hereafter 
to  be  peopled  with  glowing  forms  of  a  life,  intellect, 
and  beauty,  that  shall  put  to  the  blush  the  highest  ideal 
of  the  loftiest  Seraph,  now  in  being,  when  the  present 
Universe  shall  have  died  of  hoary  age. 

Yes  ;  Thotmor's  thought  is  a  vast  and  mighty  one. 
Do  you  not  think  so,  my  reader  ?  Try  to  compass  and 
master  this  idea,  so  terrifically  great  and  sublime,  and 
you  will  forthwith  coincide  with  me. 

What  becomes  of  many  of  the  ordinary  conceptions 
of  God's  character  now  extant  among  even  the  philoso- 
phers—  conceptions  so  unjust,  puerile,  and  even  con- 
temptible, as  many  of  them  are  ;  what  becomes  of  them 
all,  in  the  presence  of  the  estimate  of  the  great  Crea- 
tive Energy  just  conveyed  to  your  brain  ?  They  fall 
and  sink  into  utter  nothingness,  while  this  one  looms 
up  before  our  mind's  eye  in  proportions  majestic  and 
grand.  We  catch  an  intuitive  glimpse  of  its  outlines — 
its  edges  ;  but  the  whole  thought  is  too  great  for  our 
puny  brains  to  contain.     Try  to  master  it,  and  ere 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  223 

long  your  soul,  like  mine,  will  fold  its  wings  in  pres- 
ence of  its  majesty* 

"  The  Principles  and  First  Elements,  after  per- 
forming one  round  of  duty,  return  to  the  Fountain 
Head,  become  newly  charged  with  portions  of  His 
essence,  refilled  with  the  Deific  energy,  and  then  go 
forth  again  to  complete  and  finish  what,  under  a  less 
perfect  form,  they  have  before  commenced  ;  for  all  prin- 
ciples and  elements  are  at  bottom  only  one — but  one 
which  acts  under  a  thousand  different  forms  : — all  sci- 
ence is  based  on  Music,  or  Harmony  ;  Harmony  is  but 
Geometry  and  Algebra — these  are  but  Mathematics  ; 
this  is  but  one  branch  of  Celestial  Mechanics,  which 
in  turn  is  only  Number — but  number  in  action  ;"  said 
the  august  presence  at  my  side,  as  he  completed  the 
magnificent  lesson — a  lesson  so  full,  so  pregnant. with 
meaning,  that  my  reader  will  not  soon  exhaust  its  treas- 
ures, even  though  he  most  persistently  may  •  Try.' 

Still  benignly  gazing  on  me,  Thotmor  said  :  "  What 
thinkest  thou  of  Nature  ?" 

Great  God  !  that  identical  question  a  fourth  time  ! 
How  is  it  possible  to  answer  it?  I  felt  that, clear  as  my 
intellect  now  was,  it  would  be  sheerly  impossible  to 
proceed  one  single  step  further  in  definition,  and  was 
about  to  abandon  the  attempt,  when  a  voice,  sweeter 
than  the  dulcet  melody  of  love,  softer  than  the  sounds 
to  which  dreaming  infants  listen,  more  persuasive  than 
the  lip  of  beauty,  whispered  :  "  Try  I  the  Soul  groweth 
tall  and  comely,  and  ivaxeth  powerful  and  strong  only 
as  it  putteth  forth  its  Will  I  Mankind  are  of  seven  great 
orders  :  the  last  and  greatest  are  the  Genii  of  the  Earth, 
the  Children  of  the  Star-beam,  the  Inheritors  of  the  Tem- 
ple.    Weak  ones  can  never  enter  its  vestibules  ;  but  only 


224         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

those  ivho  Try,  and  trying  for  a  time,  at  length  become 
victors  and  enter  in.  Man  fails  because  of  feeble,  sleep- 
ing, idle  Will — succeeds,  because  lie  wakes  it  up  and  ever 
keejDS  it  ivakeful  !" 

In  an  instant  I  turned  to  find  whence  these  spoken 
words  proceeded  ;  and  a  sight  of  rare,  surpassing 
beauty,  such  as  ravished  every  sense  of  my  inner  being, 
fell  upon  my  gaze.  A  female  of  regal  aspect  floated  on 
beside  the  form  of  Thotmor  ;  her  radiant  mien,  beauty 
of  form,  loveliness  of  expression,  and  the  grace  of  her 
every  movement,  were  such  that  the  language  we  apply 
to  embodied  woman  can  never  convey  an  adequate  idea 
of  the  peerless  Queen  before  me.  It  was  from  her  lips 
that  the  spoken  words  had  come. 

As  I  gazed  in  utter  bewilderment  upon  the  houri, 
Thotmor  smiled,  and  said  : 

"  This  is  Cynthia,  whose  sun  I  am  ;  my  moon  she  is  : 
she  is  mine — I  am  hers— we  are  one  !  On  earth  her 
body  sleeps  ;  here  her  soul  is  awake,  and  tuned  to  the 
melodies  of  Heaven.  We  are  working  for  the  World, 
and  in  that  work  find  pleasure  and  excellent  joy  ;  but 
we  only  reached  the  bliss  by  Trying.  Do  thou  the 
same,  and  tell  thy  earthly  brothers  to  do  likewise  !" 

Thus  recalled  to  mental  effort,  I  strove  to  conquer 
my  admiration  for  the  woman,  and  address  myself  to 
thought ;  albeit  the  task  was  very  difficult. 

We  are  human  beings  still,  whether  in  or  out  of  the 
body  ;  and  the  same  surmises,  guesses  and  wonderments 
possess  us,  wheresoever  we  are.  Thus,  I  could  hardly 
help  envying  the  Egyptian  his  glorious  prize,  nor  won- 
dering if  he  did  not  see  much  trouble  and  come  to  deep 
grief  on  her  account.  Certain  it  is,  that  no  man  on 
earth  could  rest  quiet  with  such  a  treasure  of  beauty 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         225 

under  his  care  ;  and  it  struck  me  that,  even  in  the  Soul- 
world,  all  people  could  not  be  free  from  all  the  human 
passions,  as  we  know  them  here  below ;  and  that  jeal- 
ousy might  disturb  the  Oriental's  peace  of  mind,  I  could 
scarcely  doubt. 

He  saw  my  mind  ;  and,  turning  to  the  full  moon  of 
beauty  who  clung  to  his  side,  said  to  her,  "  Answer  for  ' 
me  !;J  She  did  so,  and  said  :  "  Purity  is  the  soul  of 
Beauty,  Symmetry  is  its  spirit,  and  Justice  is  its  body. 
Every  human  being,  in  the  Soul-worlds  or  elsewhere, 
loves  nothing  so  well  as  to  be  well  thought  of  by  all 
other  human  beings.  Ambition,  Emulation,  and  Per- 
sonal Joy  are  the  three  bars,  which  constitute  the  pivot 
of  all  human  character.  The  bad  passions,  as  envy, 
strife,  anger,  lust,  and  revenge,  on  earth,  not  only  de- 
stroy the  body,  but  also  mar  the  spirit.  Every  one  of 
these,  and  all  other  evil  things,  thoughts  or  deeds',  in- 
evitably leave  their  marks  upon  the  soul,  and  deep,  sad 
marks  they  are. 

"  The  law  of  Truth,  the  law  of  Individuality,  and  the 
law  of  Distinctness,  (by  means  of  which  the  man  is 
rounded  out  into  a  perfect  character,  and  is  afterwards 
kept  for  all  eternity  totally  distinct  from  any  other 
being  in  all  the  universe),  reign  in  the  Soul- world  ;  nor 
can  they  ever  be  broken  or  evaded  ;— consequently, 
there  can  be  no  mistakes  in  regard  to  Identity.  Cyn- 
thia is  Cynthia,  Thotmor  is  Thotmor,  Clarinda  is  Cla- 
rinda,  and  John  is  John — and  all  must  remain  so  till 
the  end  of  the  Ages.  It  is  so  now,  whatever  it  may  have 
been  in  the  ages  wherein  the  angels  fell. 

"  On  earth,  the  real  thoughts  and  sentiments  of  a  soul 
are  hidden  beneath  the  garniture  of  language  and  as- 
sumption ; — not  so  here  in  the  Soul-world,  where  every 
19* 


226  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

one  must  appear  to  be  what  he  really  is  at  the  moment. 
There  are  no  disguises  ;  and  while  any  one  can  do 
wrongly,  if  they  so  elect,  yet  they  cannot  mtenil  wrong 
and  pretend  right,  for  the  presence  of  an  evil  thought 
in  the  soul,  is  immediately  marked  upon  its  surface— 
upon  its  features,  by  a  law  of  that  very  soul  itself ;  and 
these  marks  and  distortions  are  so  very  plain  and  un- 
mistakable, that  all  Heaven  can  read  them  at  a  glance ; 
and  such  instantly  gravitate  to  the  Middle  State. 

"  Self-preservation,  therefore,  and  self-respect  keep 
Heaven  clear  of  sin  1 

"  In  the  second  place,  it  is  well  known  here,  as  it 
ought  to  be  on  earth,  that  the  deceiver  is,  in  all  cases, 
the  deceived  ;  the  wrong-doer  wrongs  himself  more  than 
any  one  else  ;  and  the  unhappiness  a  person  may  cause 
another  to  feel,  must  be  expiated  by  the  causer,  not  by 
the  victim !  This  is  a  safeguard  against  jealousy  here. 
No  one  will  do  an  ill  deed  if  he  is  aware  that  it  cannot 
be  kept  secret,  even  for  a  moment. 

"  In  the  next  place,  I  chose  Thotmor,  and  he  me,  be- 
cause of  all  the  inhabitants  of  this  starry  land,  he  suited 
me  the  best,  and  I  him  ;  wherefore,  there  is  a  stronger 
attachment  between  us  than  there  possibly  could  be  be- 
tween either  and  any  other  individual  in  the  great  Do- 
main. All  Heaven  knows  this  fact  also :  hence,  no  one 
in  Heaven  would  attempt  to  sunder  a  natural  tie,  be- 
cause they  are  well  aware,  that,  even  if  that  were  pos- 
sible, misery,  and  not  contentment,  must  be  the  inevita- 
ble result.  Wherefore  none  in  Heaven  would  attempt 
such  a  thing,  and  no  one  from  other  regions  could  essay 
it." 

Like  drops  of  water  on  the  sands  of  Sahara,  her 
blessed  words  sunk  into  my  soul :    the  Wisdom-cham- 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE   DEA  22? 

bers  received  a  new  family  of  ideas  ;  and  my  soul 
felt  exceeding  glad  of  this  instalment  of  the  treasures 
of  the  upper  worlds. 

For  a  moment,  I  remained  pensive  and  silent ;  and 
then,  inspired  by  the  ineffable  presence  of  Thotmor  and 
his  Cynthia,  who  floated  on  beside  him — his  pearly  arm 
engirdling  her  glorious  form  in  an  embrace,  which  spoke 
of  something  higher  and  holier  than  we  mortals  call 
love— I  answered  :  "  It  now  seems  to  me  that  Nature 
is  the  birth-place  of  Affection,  the  tomb  of  all  evil,  the 
primary  school  of  human  souls,  the  alembic  of  the  Vir- 
tues, the  gymnasia  of  Thought,  the  " — 

I  was  forced  to  stop  again  ;  nor  could  I  go  on.  Thot- 
mor came  to  my  relief,  and  added  : 

"  A  plane  inclined,  beginning  at  Instinct,  and  ending 
in  Omniscience  ;  the  telegraphic  system  of  all  Being, 
connecting  its  remotest  points  ;  the  workshop  of  the 
Infinite  and  Eternal  God  ;  the  grand  orchestra  of  all 
the  Symphonies,  and  the  ladder  reaching  from  Non- 
entity to  the  great  Dome,  beneath  which  sits  in  awful 
majesty  the  Lawmaker  of  the  Universe,  the  Great 
I  Am." 


(Sums. 


This  book,  which  after  all  is  but  prefatory  to  a  vol- 
ume on  the  general  subject  of  the  life  beyond,  which  we 
are,  ere  long,  to  give  to  the  world,  would  be  incomplete 
were  we  to  neglect  or  omit  to  answer  certain  very  preg- 
nant questions,  that  must  arise  in  the  mind  of  the  read- 
er, as  he  or  she  proceeds  in  its  perusal :  accordingly, 
this  section,  a  short  one,  shall  be  devoted  to  that  end. 

As  I  rose  in  the  air,  and  passed  over  a  sunny  region, 


228         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

which  had  not  felt  the  effects  of  the  terrific  storm  of  thun- 
der and  rain,  there  came  a  feeling,  that  there  was  a  vast 
difference  between  my  then  present  state,  and  that  in 
which  the  aerial  journey  from  the  city  in  the  East  was 
accomplished.  In  both  cases,  the  altitude  reached  was 
probably  the  same,  or  approximately  so  ;  but  in  the  first 
flight  I  was  not  one-fiftieth  part  as  conscious,  or  awake, 
as  during  the  second :  there  was  also  a  difference  in  the 
rapidity  of  motion. 

The  individual  calling  himself  Thotmor,  and  concern- 
ing whose  reality  I  am  perfectly  convinced,  now  moved 
through  the  air  at  but  a  slight  elevation  above  me  j 
while  formerly,  I  had  not  seen  him  at  all,  previous  to 
making  his  acquaintance  near  the  house  of  the  sleepy 
student. 

At  one  time,  among  my  other  miseries,  there  pos- 
sessed me  a  very  uncomfortable  apprehension,  lest,  by 
some  mishap,  my  guide  should  be  unable  to  sustain  me, 
and  that  I  should  fall.  Now  the  reader  will  say,  "  That 
was  impossible  ;  for  a  spirit,  being  lighter  than  air, 
must  necessarily  ascend"  Another  one  will  say,  "  True, 
so  it  must ;  but  being  so  very  much  lighter  than  air, 
what  is  to  hinder  it  from  going  up  with  a  rush — what 
prevents  it  from  going  up  vertically  with  the  speed  of  a 
rifle  ball,  seeing  that  the  pressure  of  air  must  force  it 
upward  with  a  power  almost  inconceivable  ?  How  is  it 
that  a  spirit  gets  to  earth  at  all,  seeing  that  light  bodies 
cannot  displace  heavy  ones ;  and  how  could  a  spirit  move 
off  at  an  angle  at  all  V 

These,  and  a  multitude  of  other  questions  were  pre- 
sent in  my  mind,  along  with  many  novel  suggestions, 
provoked  by  the  peculiar  circumstances  in  which  the 
narrator  of  these  experiences  was  placed. 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  229 

Let  us  try  to  make  the  matter  clear,  by  remarking, 
in  the  first  place,  that  the  prevailing  sensation  was  such 
as  is  experienced  by  those  who  go  up  into  the  great 
deep  in  balloons,  during  their  novitiate  in  the  business 
of  cloud-climbing. 

Among  other  questions  that  arose,  and  which  I  put 
to  myself,  was  this  :"  Do  I  as  a  spirit,  for  the  time 
being,  actually  ascend  ?  Am  I  really  here,  on  the  breast 
of  earth's  great  cushion — the  atmosphere  ?  or  is  all  this 
an  experience  of  the  soul — an  episode  of  dream-life? 
Am  I  really  here,  or  is  this,  that  so  resembles  me,  only 
an  alter  ego — a  second  self — the  result  of  a  pushing  forth 
of  faculty  ?  Is  it  a  mere  phantom,  which  my  soul  has 
shaped,  and  sent  forth,  and  then  lodged  its  intelligence 
in,  for  a  time,  by  way  of  experiment  and  freak  ?  If  so, 
how  is  it  done  ?  ' 

"  In  either  case,  the  question  is  a  grave  one ;  for  if  it 
be  not  myself,  here  in  the  air,  but  only  a  soul-created 
phasma,  of  what  sort  of  materials  is  this  appearance 
made,  and  whence  comes  the  wierd  and  mighty  power 
that  can  call  these  images  into  being,  and  endow  them 
with  all  the  resemblance  of  reality  ?" 

These  and  similar  queries  suggested  themselves  to 
me ;  and  while  the  last  one  was  still  fresh  in  my  mind, 
I  noticed  that  the  earth  beneath  me  was  smiling  in 
glad  freshness  ; — for  the  storm  had  not  passed  over  that 
part  of  the  land,  although  even  then  and  there  it  was 
raining — a  soft,  gentle,  sweet  and  sunshiny  summer 
rain,  such  as  happens  when  the  "  Devil  whips  his  wife  " 
— I  beg  pardon — used  to  whip  her  ;  for,  according  to 
modern  philosophers,  of  the  "  Harmonial "  order,  he 
has  deceased  these  eleven  years,  and,  of  course,  cannot 
thus  chastise  her  any  more.     Be  that  as  it  may,  how- 


230  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

ever,  it  was  raining ;  and  here  was  an  opportunity  to 
solve  a  much  mooted  point,  namely  :  "  Do  spiritual 
beings  get  wet  in  a  rain  storm  ?  Do  the  rain-drops 
and  hail-stones  pass  through  them,  or  do  they  bound  off 
as  from  a  solid  body  fJ  Most  attentively  did  I  make 
the  closest  observations,  in  order  to  be  able  to  solve 
the  question.  I  decided  that  the  rain  passed  through  us, 
yet  touched  us  not  at  all,  as  apparently  did  the  wind. 
Preferring  to  make  every  point  as  clear  as  possible,  I 
shall  attempt  to  illustrate  this  one,  even  at  the  risk  of 
a  little  prolixity  and  repetition.  The  subject  is  an  in- 
teresting one,  and  demands  it. 

Now,  everybody  knows  that  nothing  less  dense  than 
water,  save  air,  in  violent  motion,  will  turn  aside  or 
shed  it ;  and  that  which  constitutes  the  spiritual  body 
is,  of  course,  infinitely  finer  and  more  Subtle  than  even 
the  rarest  gas,  much  less  the  thick  and  heavy  atmo- 
sphere surrounding  this  and  all  other  globes. 

This  fact  being  conceded,  it  follows  that  all  such 
bodies  must  be  pervious ;  and  they  are  so,  and  not  so  at 
the  same  time.  Remember  that  spirit  is  not  soul ;  for- 
get not  that  the  latter  is  the  Winged  Globe,  of  which  I 
have  spoken,  and  the  former  is  a  projection,  an  out- 
creation  from  it.  This  out-projection  or  spirit  is,  of 
course,  perfectly  atomless  and  unparticled.  We  gaze 
into  a  mirror,  and  behold  a  semblance  of  ourselves  ; 
and  the  same  figure  may  be  gazed  at  by  a  hundred  thou- 
sand eyes ;  everybody  will  at  once  acknowledge  that 
the  likeness  is  perfect  and  real,  yet  every  one  knows 
that  not  one  single  atom  of  any  sort  of  matter  enters 
into  its  composition. 

It  cannot  be  handled,  but  everybody  can  see  it ;  nor 
would  a  pistol  ball,  shot  through  the  head  of  that 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  31 

■figure,  harm  it  in  the  least  degree,  because  it  is  not 
substance,  although  it  is  substantial.  It  is  not  a  sha- 
dow, for  it  is  real, — which  latter  fact  is  proved  daily  by 
those  who  first  coax  this  image  to  enter  a  camera,  and 
no  sooner  does  it  get  fairly  in  than  the  clever  artist 
impales  it  against  a  tablet  of  glass,  or  ivory,  and  lo ! 
everybody  carries  the  chained  image  to  his  home  for 
everybody  else  to  look  at,  who  chooses  so  to  do.  This 
is  Photography. 

Now,  the  wind  and  rain,  cold  and  heat,  are  as  power- 
less and  inefficient  to  act  upon  a  spirit  as  they  are  upon 
the  image  in  the  camera,  or  a  mirror.  In  other  words, 
the  spiritual  body  is  a  projected  image  of  the  soul,— is 
a  sort  of  objectified  subjective  state  ;  or  is  a  fixed  idea 
— an  out-creation.* 

The  image  in  the  glass  is  not  made  up  of  parts, — it  is 
a  unit, — an  entity, — is  homogeneous.  "  If  so,  how  can 
it  be  scientifically  true  that  the  rain  passes  through  it  ? 
If  it  does  so  pass,  it  must  make  holes  through  it ;  and 
if  holes  are  made  through  it,  then  its  homogeneity  is  at 
an  end  for  evermore." 

This  is  a  fair,  as  it  certainly  is  the  strongest  object- 
ion that  can  be  urged  against  the  position  assumed. 
But  the  answer,  which  forever  sets  it  at  rest,  is  this  : 
"  Spirit  is  not  matter." 

The  subject  may  be  further  illustrated,  thus  :  Suppose 
a  large  sheet  of  flame  issuing,  not  from  a  jet,  but  from 
the  edge  of  a  hollow  disk,  and  that  the  rush  of  gas  is 
great  enough  to  impel  the  sheet  of  flame  six  feet  into  the 
air.  Now,  try  to  wet  this  flame  ;  it  will  take  some  time 
before  you  succeed  in  the  enterprise.    Take  a  watering 

*  This  sublime  truth  will  be  elaborated  at  length  in  the  second 
volume,  of  which  this  is  the  first.— PuZ>. 


232         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

pot  and  sprinkle  it  to  your  heart's  content ;  but,  although 
the  drops  of  water  will  reach  the  ground  through  the 
disk,  and  displace  portions  thereof,  for  an  infinitesimal 
space  of  time,  yet  they  will  neither  wet  nor  touch  it. 

Every  drop  of  water  has  an  envelope  of  an  electric 
nature,  doubtless  ;  and  that  each  particle  of  flame  has 
a  corresponding  one  is  self-evident.  The  respective 
envelopes  may  come  in  contact  with  each  other,  but 
their  respective  principles — never. 

Now,  the  spirit  is  far  more  difficult  to  reach  ^han 
would  be  this  flame.  As  stated  before,  every  perfect 
thing  is  globular  :  the  sun,  within  the  brain,  I  have 
called  by  its  true  name — a  winged  globe  ;  the  electric 
moon,  whose  seat  is  in,  on  and  about  the  solar  plexus, 
is  literally  an  electric  moon,  perfectly  globular.  The 
human  being,  body,  soul,  spirit,  is  surrounded  by  an  at- 
mosphere of  the  same  form,  or  nearly  so  ;  and  this 
enveloping  aura,  this  spirit-garb,  protects  its  centre — 
the  man — from  injury  or  contact  with  other  things 
(unless,  indeed,  it  be  voluntarily  broken  down,  or  yields 
to  assaults  from  without  by  the  abjectivity  of  the  will). 
True,  a  person  may  be  injured  magnetically  through 
this  sphere,  by  pressure  or  malaria,  although  itself 
remains  unruptured  and  intact  ;  just  as  a  pistol  ball 
will  kill  a  man,  without  actually  touching  his  flesh.  If 
he  chance  to  be  dressed  in  silk,  it  may  drive  its  bulk 
into  his  flesh,  yet  not  a  particle  of  lead  shall  touch  it. 

I  observed  the  aura  or  sphere  which  surrounded 
myself  and  my  two  glorified  companions.  The  rain- 
drops passed  through  it,  as  also  through  portions  of  our 
respective  persons,  just  as  they  would  through  a  sheet 
of  flame-lightning,  but  without  actual  contact  or  wet- 
ting either.    We  have  every  reason  to  believe  that,  as 


DEALING^  WITH  THE  DEAD.         233 

we  ascend,  the  air  grows  colder,  until  at  the  height  of 
forty-five  miles  the  cold  must  be  in  the  neighborhood  of 
three  thousand  degrees  below  zero.  Now,  spirits  fre- 
quently pass  through  this — they  must  pass  through  it  to 
reach  us,  yet  they  are  unaffected  thereby,  for  the  reason 
that  they  are  superior  to  all  material  influences. 

Moses,  Elias,  the  spiritual  visitants  of  the  Patriarchs, 
of  the  man  of  Uz,  he  whom  John  saw, — and  others,  had 
to  come  through  this  intense  cold ;  and  the  fact  that  they 
did  so  proves  that  material  forces  have  but  little,  if 
any  effect  upon  spirit.  It  therefore  defies  one  extreme, 
and  consequently  ought  the  other.  It  does  so.  For 
the  spirits  seen  walking  about  in  the  fiery  furnace, 
which  was  heated  seven  times  hotter  than  its  wont,  for 
the  especial  grilling  of  Messieurs  Shadrach,  Meshach 
and  Abednego,  bade  defiance  to  fire  ; — a  fatal  fact 
against  the  theory  of  a  physical  hell — the  spirits  proving 
not  only  water,  ice,  and  wind,  but  ^re-proof  also  ! 

Continuing  my  scrutiny,  I  observed  that  never  a  drop 
of  rain  fell  upon  the  centre  of  the  heads  of  either  of  the 
aerial  party :  for  just  over  the  crown  of  every  human 
being  in  the  body  is  a  thick  bone ;  out  of  the  body,  a  mag- 
netic shield,  impenetrable  by  anything  whatever  ;  for 
every  drop  of  rain  slides  off  it,  as  from  an  iron  roof. 
Place  a  spirit  under  a  stream  of  falling  water,  and  the 
central  globe  would  instantly  condense  to  infinitesimal 
proportions,  so  firmly  embraced  by  its.  shield  as  to 
resemble  the  original  monad  ;  nor  could  water  ever 
come  in  contact  with  it,  any  more  than  the  same  water 
could  come  in  contact  with  a  plate  of  iron  at  a  white 
heat,  which  every  one  knows  is  a  physical  impossibility. 
I  humbly  trust  that  I  have  been  understood. 

In  reply  to  "  How  can  a  spirit  reach  earth  at  all,  or 


234         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

move  through  air  at  any  angle  up  or  down  ?"  I  reply  : 
Electrically.  It  projects  an  image  of  itself  to  where  it 
would  be;— every  man  who  thinks  of  a  distant  point 
does  the  same,  only  that  the  thing  cannot  be  seen  with 
earthly  eyes.  There  is  a  magnetic  railway  between  the 
projection  and  the  projector,  along  which  this  latter 
moves. 

Throw  forth  an  image  by  glasses  across  the  street. 
It  will  find  no  difficulty  in  reaching  the  spot  whither 
you  send  it.  Analogous  to  this  is  the  power  of  soul  to 
go  whither  it  listeth,  unimpeded,  and  of  its  own  free 
will. 

The  ultimatum  of  all  philosophy  is,  to  teach  men  how 
to  live  ;  to  instruct  them  how  to  die  ;  establish  a  con- 
viction of  immortality  ;  and  explain  how  this  latter  is, 
and  why,  and  to  whither  it  shall  lead.  The  sole  busi- 
ness of  this  book,  and  that  which  is  to  follow  in  due 
season,  is  not  to  controvert  any  current  system  of  phi- 
losophy— Harmonial,  Spiritualistic,  or  otherwise — but  to 
present,  not  a  mere  theory  or  hypothesis  on  the  subject 
of  an  hereafter  and  its  sequences,  but  to  give  forth 
what  I  know  to  be  the  truth,  so  far  as  that  truth  ex- 
tends ;  nor  do  I  fail  to  be  impressed  with  a  deep  assur- 
ance that,  although  much  herein  given  necessarily  an- 
tagonizes a  few  of  the  popular  Spiritual  theories,  yet 
I  believe  that  that  which  I  have  now  given  concerning 
the  soul  and  its  destiny,  is  perfectly  true  and  correct. 
I  care  not  how  much  soever  the  reader  may  doubt  the 
aerial  experiences  herein  narrated — for  these  are  but 
illustrative,  at  best,  and  in  other  respects  are  of  little 
account — yet  the  Theory  I  know  to  be  the  only  true  one 
yet  advanced  ;  and  it  is  to  the  principles  wherein  this 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         235 

theory  is  founded,  that  I  call  the  attention  of  the  Think- 
ing World,  and  challenge  its  respect. 

Not  a  human  being,  whom  I  ever  saw,  was  fully  satis- 
fied with  either  Modern  Spiritualism,  or  what  is  called 
Harmonial  Philosophy  ;  for  the  more  a  man  bases  his 
hopes  of  a  life  hereafter  upon  either  of  them,  the  more 
he  stands  on  slippery  ground.  Doubt  after  doubt  seizes 
on  the  mind,  until  at  last  people  turn  away,  sad-hearted 
and  desperate,  from  so-called  systems  of  Immortalism, 
to  take  refuge  in  the  church,  which  erewhile  they  so 
loudly  berated  and  condemned — resort  once  again  to 
the  Blessed  Book,  or  else  unhappily  drift  out  upon  the 
shoreless,  hopeless  sea  of  atheism.  There  are  untold 
multitudes  who  will  gladly  hail  anything  that  promises 
to  remove  the  dreadful  doubts  concerning,  not  only 
their  continued  existence,  but  their  chances  of  bliss  be- 
yond the  veil.  To  such  this  book  and  its  fellow  comes ; 
for  the  benefit  of  such  they  both  are,  and  are  to  be  sent 
forth  upon  the  world's  great  tide. 

Thoroughly  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  the  truths  here 
written — with  the  principles  set  forth  and  running  like 
a  gold- vein  through  that  portion  which  is  descriptive 
mainly — no  one  can  help  feeling  strong  in  the  certitude 
of  an  hereafter — this  being  the  only  attempt  ever  yet 
made  in  this  country  to  treat  of  the  soul  per  se,  and  in 
its  higher  and  deeper  relations,  so  far  as  the  writer  is 
aware. 

Concerning  the  absolute  origin  and  final  destiny  of 
the  soul  itself,  the  answer  to  the  question,  What  is  God, 
and  a  few  others  of  equal  import,  the  reader  must  wait 
for  the  second  volume  ;  for,  in  the  present,  we  have  onl^ 
entered  the  outskirts  of  the  illimitable  course — have 
scarcely  touched  the  preface  of  the  mighty  volume, 


236  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

Soul.  Herein  we  are  only  at  the  top  of  one  of  the  less- 
er hills,  from  which  we  catch  a  faint,  very  faint  view, 
and  hear  but  the  distant  throbbing  pulses  of  the  vast 
ocean,  on  whose  swelling  bosom,  and  upborne  by  whose 
wisdom-crested  waves  all  men  shall  ere  long  sail. 

As  true  lovers  of  our  race,  we  ask  all  good  people  to 
embark  with  us  anon  upon  an  intellectual  voyage  across 
the  Deep,  in  search  of  facts  and  truths  far  more  stately 
and  sublime  than  those  usually  purporting  to  come  from 
super-mundane  sources. 

All  truths  are  necessarily  dogmatic ;  nor  has  any 
attempt  herein  been  made  to  hinder  their  expression 
from  being  the  same.  Our  great  Master  and  Exemplar 
in  virtue  was  dogmatic — why  not  his  followers  be  the 
same  ? 

It  seems  essential,  at  this  point,  that  the  writer  should 
say  something,  not  concerning  the  spiritual  realms,  but 
of  the  man-spirit — the  self — the  developed  and  develop- 
ing monad.  Now,  what  is  a  monad  ?  The  reply  is  : 
Something  quite  analogous  to,  but  not  exactly,  the  Leib- 
nitzian  '  Particle/  but  that  which  is  to  universal  spirit 
precisely  what  an  atom  is  to  universal  substance  or 
matter — with  this  difference  :  you  cannot  cut  an  idea 
into  halves  or  pieces,  for  it  is,  was,  and  ever  will  be,  a 
unit ;  so  is  a  monad. 

An  atom  of  matter  is  divisible  to  infinity — a  single 
grain  of  sand  being,  by  a  mental  process,  capable  of 
disintegration  so  great,  that  were  each  portion  to  be 
separated  from  its  fellow  by  only  the  millionth  of  an 
inch,  yet  the  vast  concave  of  the  dome,  the  walls  of  the 
sidereal  heaven,  the  awful  height  and  depths  of  space, 
the  dizzy  steeps  of  the  great  Profound,  would  not  afford 
room  to  hold  them  all,  even  though  the  worlds  were 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  237 

rushed  out  of  being  for  accommodation's  sake.  Yet 
not  one  of  these  portions  would  be  spirit,  because  that 
is  indivisible  ;  they  can  never  be.  It  is  a  philosophic 
truth,  as  well  as  a  scientific  axiom,  that  "  Matter  is 
divisible  forever  ;  spirit  is  not." 

Beasts  have  spirits,  but  not  immortal  ones  ;  for  the 
reason  that  they  are  the  result  of  mere  physical  energy , 
and  natural  elements  acted  on  by  natural  forces.  Their 
mission  is  to  serve  certain  uses,  the  greatest  of  which  is 
that  of  affording,  in  some  mysterious  way,  temporary 
homes  for  higher  beings,  or  rather  for  what  is  there- 
after to  become  such — as  already  alluded  to  in  the  ar- 
ticle on  TransmigratioD . 

Nothing  material  is  endowed  with  perpetuity  ;  for 
nothing  particled  can  ever  be  so.  True  it  is,  that  the 
spirit  of  a  beast  is  many  degrees  finer  in  texture,  and 
more  sublimated  than  the  luminiferous  ether  by  which  we 
come  in  contact  with  colors  ;  but  the  soul  of  a  man  is 
myriads  of  degrees  more  subtile  in  constitution  than  even 
this  essential  part  of  animals.  The  last  is  particled,  the 
former  homogeneous,  sui  generis,  Deific  in  origin,  pecu- 
liar in  nature,  expansive  in  power,  infinite  in  capacity 
of  acquirement,  and  probably  eternal  in  duration. 

Comparisons  are  useful :  Suppose,  then,  that  the  sacred 
rite  is  to  be  celebrated  that  shall  call  a  new  soul  into 
outer  being.  Well,  at  the  moment  of  orgasm,  there 
leaps  forth  from  the  very  heart  of  the  winged  globe  a 
monad  ;  with  the  speed  of  light,  it  rushes  down  the 
spinal  column,  supplied  in  its  route  with  a  nervo-mag- 
netic  garment — a  voluntary  contribution  from  every 
particle  of  his  physical  being.  It  reaches  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  prostate  gland,  passes  through  it,  during 
which  it  receives  additional  envelopes,  of  a  nature  easily 


238  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

understood.  Its  next  leap  is  to  the  prepared  ovum, 
which  it  only  reaches  after  taking  refuge  in  a  hollow, 
shell,  attached  to  what  is  called  the  "  head  of  a  sperma- 
tozoa," which  in  itself  is  the  half  germ  (the  ovum  being 
the  other)  of  the  physical  structure. 

Imagine,  if  you  please,  a  monad  just  incarnated  in 
many  folds.  Its  color  is  a  pearly  white,  approaching 
the  hue  of  pure  fire ;  its  bulk,  with  its  investments 
about  one-tenth  that  of  the  head  of  a  small  pin  ;  with- 
out them,  about  so  much  less  that  probably  a  million 
might  float  without  contact  in  a  single  drop  of  water. 
Its  envelopes  are  the  very  incarnations  and  condensa- 
tions of  electricity  and  magnetism  ;  and  so  possess  the 
power  of  repelling  uncongenialities,  and  of  attracting 
whatever  is  essential  to  its  development,  during  and 
subsequent  to  its  temporary  home  at  the  gestative  cen- 
tre. The  essences  and  life  of  all  that  the  parent  may 
eat  and  drink,  or  breathe — as  perfumes,  odors,  and  so 
forth — are  gravitative  to  the  precious  point ;  and  so  the 
monad  unfolds,  and  its  envelopes  grow  ;  the  one  des- 
tined to  become  a  living,  active  soul — the  other,  the 
temple  of  flesh  and  blood,  in  which  it  will,  for  three 
score  years  and  ten,  more  or  less,  exercise  and  improve 
its  faculties  and  powers.  Now,  this  process  is  exactly 
analogous  to  that  whereby  God  Himself  brings  humans 
into  being  ;  only  that  instead  of  having  a  female  form 
to  shield  them  (the  monads),  He  made  use  of  matter  in 
other  forms— worlds,  and  substantial  things.  It  is  easy 
to  see  how  the  first  human  being  was  brought  into  ex- 
istence, albeit  the  full  statement  thereof  belongs  to  an- 
other volume  than  the  present — the  first  part  of  the 
present  one  merely  giving  an  outline  thereof. 

Man's  body  is  of  the  earth,  earthy ;  it  serves  the 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  239 

soul's  purposes  for  a  time,  and  when  it  can  no  longer  do 
so,  we  die  because  it  is  the  nature  of  matter  to  decay 
and  change  ;  but  soul  being  of  God,  the  Honover,  Aum, 
the  Sacred,  the  Holy,  the  Great  Mystery,  lives  on 
forever  and  for  evermore  ;  and  in  all  human  probability 
unfolds  continually  and  incessantly. 

Could  you  procure  a  microscopic  view  of  a  monad, 
you  would  behold  a  perfect  resemblance  of  a  human 
being  of  infinitesimal  proportions,  standing  at  full 
length,  but  with  closed  eyes,  in  the  midst  of  a  surround- 
ing and  protecting  sphere,  formed  of  something  a  myriad 
degrees  more  sublimated  than  the  rarest  imponderable 
known  to  science.* 

Soul  has  two  methods  of  increase  :  first,  it  feeds  on 
notions,  thoughts,  sensations,  ideas,  emotions,  hopes, 
joys,  fears  and  anticipations,  based  on  that  which  is  ex- 
ternal of  itself.  The  experiences  and  discipline  thus 
derived,  constitute  Progression.  On  the  other  hand,  it 
creates,  moulds,  and  fashions  things  from  itself,  and  by 
the  exercise,  grows  intuitive  and  strong.  This  is  De- 
velopment, or  Unfolding.     Souls  are  all  of  the  same 


*  "  Over  the  graves  of  the  newly  dead,  may,  on  dark  nights,  be  seen 
hovering  the  forms  of  those  within  them — strange,  ghastly,  ghostly 
forms  they  are.  The  exhalations  of  the  decaying  bodies  assume  the 
shape  and  proportions  of  the  living  being,  and  affright  the  passer3 
by." — Jung  Stilling. 

"  Burn  a  rose,  and  then  mix  it3  asheswith  water  in  a  bowl ;  set  it 
away  in  a  still  place,  and  in  a  few  days  a  thin,  glairy  scum  will  rise 
upon  the  surface,  and  arrange  itself  in  the  exact  form  of  the  original 
flower.'"— Report  of  Acad.  Sci.,  Paris,  1834.  fc _ ^ 

The  acorn,  split  in  two  and  exposed  to  a  strong  light  and  high  mag- 
nifying power,  will  disclose  the  perfect  outlines  of  an  oak  tree.  The 
germ  of  all  things  contains  the  likeness  of  what  hereafter  they  are 
destined  to  become,  and  so  also  does  the  germ  or  monad  of  a  man. 

Pub. 


240         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

genesis,  but,  like  trees  of  the  forest,  there  are  vast  dif- 
ferences between  them.  Men  often  speak  of  "  full  souls, 
big  souls,  weak  souls,  strong  souls,  lean  and  fat  souls," 
and  so  on — thus  leaping  to  a  truth  by  a  single  bound 
of  intuition.  For  no  greater  truths  exist  than  those 
words  convey.  People  grow  weary  by  labor,  that's 
physical  exhaustion  ;  and  of  pleasure,  that's  sen- 
sational weariness  ;  and  of  thinking,  hoping,  cogitating 
on  a  single  subject,  that's  soul-tiredness— for  all  of 
which  rest  is  demanded,  or  rather  a  change  of  attention 
and  occupation. 

The  body  is  a  laboratory,  wherein  the  most  beautiful 
and  useful  chemical  labors  are  carried  on  ;  and  it  ex- 
tracts and  distils  the  finest  essences  from  all  things  it 
manipulates.  True  it  is,  that  a  coarse  man  will  only 
extract  physical  energy  from  beef  and  wine  ;  but  it  is 
also  true  that  these  things  contain  something  far  more 
rare,  and  so  subtle  that  it  requires  a  stomach  of  finer 
texture  and  more  elevated  order  to  extract  the  higher 
essences,  that  go  to  inspire  genius,  develope  poets,  and 
sustain  philosophers  in  thinking. 

Some  persons  manufacture  bleaching  salts  and  oil  of 
vitriol ;  others  compound  the  delicate  odors  which  float 
upon  the  air  of  palaces,  and  radiate  from  the  garments 
of  refined  women  ;  yet  both  are  chemists.  And  so  of 
human  bodies  ;  they  feed  on  the  essences  of  food,  and 
convert  these  essences  into  the  most  spiritual  forms  pos- 
sible ;  this  last  is  duly  laid  away  in  numberless  maga- 
zines, or  store-houses,  which  we  call  the  u  Nervous  Gan- 
glia." When  these -stores  are  distributed,  the  body 
grows  strong.  When  the  supply  is  exhausted,  we  be- 
come faint  and  weary,  and  finally  fall  asleep,  whereupon 
the  soul-sun  sets  for  a  while  (vide  the  case  of  the  stu- 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         241 

dent),  withdraws  from  the  brain,  passes  down  the  verte- 
brae, enters  the  solar  plexus,  changes  the  refined  essences 
of  the  ganglia  into  pure  fire,  endows  it  with  portions  of 
its  own  divine  life,  sends  a  supply  to  every  point  where 
the  communications  are  not  cut  off  by  disease  ;  and  so 
increases  the  vigor,  life,  and  bulk  of  the  body. 

When  this  recuperative  work  is  done,  the  soul  some- 
times rests  awhile,  and  remains  shut  out  from  this  world 
for  hours  ;  during  which  time  our  existence  is  vegeta- 
tive only,  and  we  are  in  a  deathly  slumber,  so  far  as 
outward  consciousness  is  concerned.  At  such  times,  the 
soul  is  making  itself  familiar  with  the  elements  of  that 
lofty  and  transcendant  knowledge  which  all  good  human 
beings  are  destined  to  fully  acquire  after  death.  It  is 
talking  with  God,  and  God  is  in  turn  conversing  with 
it.  It  is  perusing  its  volume  of  Reminiscences,  and 
these  sometimes  vaguely,  dimly  flash  forth  on  the  out- 
ward memory,  causing  men  to  doubt  the  story  that  they 
have  not  pre-existed.  Sometimes  it  is  intently  listening 
to  the  glorious  melodies  which  the  seraphim  sing,  or 
drinking  in  the  knowledge  of  archangels  j  for  it  is  in- 
deed true  that — 

"  Sometimes  the  aerial  synod  bends, 
And  the  mighty  choir  descends, 
And  the  brains  of  men  thenceforth 
Teem  with  unaccustomed  thoughts." 

The  soul  returns  from  the  inner  to  the  outer  life,  and, 
in  spite  of  philosophy  or  reasoning  to  the  contrary,  will 
entertain  vague  memories,  indistinct  yet  half-positive 
assurances  of  having  been  aforetime  in  some  other  place 
than  earth,  or  hell,  or  heaven  ;  nor  can  it  get  rid  of  this 
conviction,  because  it  is  true  !  We  have  existed  some- 
where else  !  We  have  lived  and  acted  parts  before, 
11 


242  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

long  ages  ago,  before  this  world  was  ushered  into  being 
from  the  fiery  vortex  of  the  Sun  of  suns  ;  we  have  lived 
and  moved  and  had' a  being  in  a  strange  and  far-off 
world. 

A  realm  of  mystery  and  wonder,  memory-filled,  sublime  ; 
Not  in  this  world,  or  hell,  heaven,  space  or  time  ! 

And  so  we  sleep.  At  other  times,  without  arousing 
the  body,  the  soul/ cautiously  re-ascends  its  daily  throne, 
takes  advantage  of  the  physical  quiescence  and  slum- 
ber, and  plays  many  a  fantastic  trick  with  the  mate- 
rials in  its  magazines, — all  for  its  own  amusement  and 
that  of  its  phantasmal  comrades  and  lookers  on,  who 
do  not  fail  to  gather  round,  the  bedside  and  join  the 
spectral  sport. 

Sometimes  it  overhauls  the  sheets  of  memory,  sport- 
ively, racily,  jocundly,  mixes  them  all  together,  puts 
incongruous  events  alongside  of  bitter  remembrances  ; 
takes  a  character  here,  and  one  there,  and  forces  them 
to  perform  the  most  ridiculous  and  absurd  dramas 
imaginable  ;  nor  does  imagination  itself  escape,  for  the 
soul  touches  it,  and  forthwith  it  produces,  like  a  fecund 
mother; and  the  night-born  offspring  are  forced  to  mingle 
themselves  in  one  indescribable  medley,  along  with 
things  of  pure  memory  and  reminiscence,  thus  forming 
an  olla  podrida  without  order,  system,  head,  foot,  be- 
ginning or  end.     We  are  dreaming  !* 

*  An  objection  may  be  urged  here,  to  the  effect  that  animals 
dream,  as  well  as  human  beings.  Dogs  bark  in  their  sleep,  and  mani 
fest  all  the  phenomena  of  dreaming.  Has  the  dog,  therefore,  got  a  soul 
that  pernoctates,  goes  abroad,  and  so  forth  ?  To  this  I  reply  :  It  is  by 
mo  means  certain  that  the  sleep-barking  of  dogs  and  other  beasts  is 
anything  more  or  less  than  a  merely  physical,  nervous  agitation.  I  am 
not  sure  that  they  really  do  have  dreams.    Still,  on  this  point  I  am 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         243 

At  other  times,  having  placed  proper  sentinels  to 
guard  the  body  and  telegraph  to  itself  on  the  least  ap- 
pearance of  danger,  the  royal  soul,  feeling  its  high-born 
nature  demanding  a  supply  not  to  be  found  within 
itself  always,  leaves  for  a  while  the  scene  of  its  sojourn, 
and  leaps  upward  to  the  starry  vault,  to  hold  converse 
with  the  stars  and  their  holy  tenants  :  Then^we  have  ■ 
visions  1 

Again,  it  takes  journeys  over  the  earth's  surface, 
visits  old,  familiar,  or  new  and  unknown  places,  persons 
and  things  :  Then  we  are  clairvoyant. 

These  are  moods  and  phases  of  the  soul's  existence 
and  activities,  but  they  are  not  the  highest ;  for,  at 
still  other  times,  it  arrays  itself  in  its  most  regal  garb, 
and,  marshaled  by  an  army  itself  has  called  into  being, 
solemnly  marches  forth  to  attend  The  Council  of  the 
Hours! — and  here  a  holy  awe  steals  over  me,  as  this 
trait  and  power  of  the  soul  is  revealed.  At  such  times 
we  prophecy  and  become  familiar  with  events,  persons, 
principles,  and  things  yet  unborn  in  time  and  space  ; — 
we  have  receded  behind  the  wall  of  consciousness,  and 
bathed  for  a  time~in  the  sea  of  mystery,  every  billow 
and  wavelet  of  which  constitutes  a  destiny.  For  that 
all  things  that  are  yet  to  be,  at  this  moment  exist  as 
monads  and  uncarnated  thoughts  in  the  Mind  of  Minds, 
there  cannot  be  a  shadow  of  doubt ;  nether  can  there 


open  to  conviction,  and  just  as  soon  as  any  well-bred  dog,  not  one  of 
your  mongrel  hounds  either,  shall  tell  me  what  he  dreamed,  I  will  an- 
nounce that  highly  interesting  fact  to  the  world  ;  but  until  one  shall 
do  so,  I  shall  insist  upon  the  hypothesis,  above  set  forth,  that  these 
somnolent  exhibitions  are  in  some  way  connected  with  what  I  call  the 
process  of  monad-gestation,  and  not  to  the  dreaming  of  the  beast  as 
such. 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE    DEAD. 

be  one  that  man  has  been,  still  is,  and  hereafter  will  be, 
intromitted  to  this  sacred  labyrinth  of  knowledge, 
under  certain  conditions  yet  unknown  to  us.  And  yet 
man  is  a  free-acting  being. 

Bye-and-bye  the  sleep  is  ended,  and  we  return  to 
outer,  every-day  life.  The  soul's  magazines  have  been 
stored  full  of  the  needful  energies,  both  for  itself  and 
body ;  and  it  can  at  will,  and  sometimes  by  the  action 
of  a  power  lying  back  of  volition,  send  forth  these 
fiery  elements  to  warm  up  and  invigorate  the  outer 
self,  as  occasion  may  demand.  Thus  comes  the  blush 
of  love,  the  inspiration  of  song,  and  acting,  the  fire  and 
energy  of  speech  and  oratory,  the  flames  of  lust  and 
passion,  the  brutal  vigor  of  the  athlete  and  pugilist,  the 
blaze  of  anger,  and  the  sudden  and  awful  courage  and 
ferocity  of  those  who,  at  other  times,  are  poltroons  and 
errant  cowards. 

Of  course,  some  people  accumulate  more  of  this  fire 
than  others,  and  some  are  more  sensitive  to  its  action — 
even  when  it  is  quiescent — than  less  fine  organizations 
possibly  could  be  ;  and  these  very  sensitive  persons 
will,  from  the  effect  this  accumulated  power  has  upon 
them,  tell  you  more  of  an  individual's  character  from  a 
half  hour's  association,  than  others  could  after  a  dozen 
years  of  intimacy,  for  they  come  in  almost  direct  rap- 
port with  the  soul  itself,  with  something  of  which  the 
"  sphere"  is-  charged  ;  whereas  those  who  are  not  so 
sensitive  must  base  their  verdict^  on  what  they  see  and 
hear. — the  others,  on  what  they  feel  and  know. 

This  fact  is  beginning  to  be  well  known  ;  but  there  is 
a  consideration  arising  out  of  it  of  vast  importance.  It 
is  this  :  Those  who  are  most  sensitive  are  the  very  ones 
who  absorb  deepest  of  those  energies.   They  draw  it  in 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  245 

like  sponges,  and  give  it  out  the  same,  as  may  be  daily 
seen  on  the  platforms  whence  "  spiritual  mediums"  ful- 
minate their  doctrines.  There  you  will  see  a  fine,  sensi- 
tive, delicate  woman  speaking  for  hours  in  tones  of 
thunder,  and  with  an  energy  sufficient  to  rack  a  far 
stouter  frame  to  pieces, — physically  sustained  by  what 
she  draws  from  the  audience,  and  returns  likewise, — 
with  something  added  from  herself.  Such  persons,  sit- 
ting in  "  circles,"  either  draw  off  the  very  life  of  those 
with  whom  they  join  hands  or  come  in  contact,  or  else 
themselves  are  sponged  dry.*  Now,  one  of  these  sensi- 
tives will  so  absorb  the  sphere  of  persons  with  whom 
they  may  chance  to  be,  that  they  may  be  led  to  do  many 
a  naughty  thing,  even  against  their  own  inclinations 
and  judgment ; — especially  is  this  true  with  reference 
to  the  tender  passion.  Their  conduct  may  be  very 
reprehensible,  their  hearts  be  very  pure.  Of  course 
this  condition  is  a  morbid  one,  and  should  be  sternly 
fought  against  and  battled  down. 

The  question  is  often  asked,  "  Do  spirits  eat  ?" 
Answer :  In  the  Middle  States,  eating  is  a  strong  phan- 
tasy ;  the  inhabitants  believe  they  eat.  In  the  Soul- 
world  stomachs  are  useless,  as  well  as  the  organs  of 
sex,  but  the  soul  absorbs  nutriment  spontaneously. 
There  is  no  ivaste  ! 

Having  thus  briefly  replied  to  the  objections  likely  to 
be  raised,  I  now  resume  the  narrative  at  the  point 
where  it  was  left  incomplete.  "What  further  took  place 
will  be  found  in  the  next  section. 

As  the  splendid  sentences  of  Thotmor,  recorded  in 
a  previous  section,  fell  upon  the  hearing  of  my  soul,  that 

*  For  further  light  on  this  point  see  a  book  called  "  The  Sexual 
Question,"  by  the  writer  of  this  work,  and  shortly  to  be  published. 


246         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  ' 

soul  involuntarily  bowed  itself  in  awe:  and  as  the  ex- 
pression, "  the  workshop  of  the  Eternal  God  ;  the  orches- 
tra of  the  Symphonies,  the  ladder  reaching  from  Nothing 
to  the  .Great  Dome,  beneath  which  sits  in  awful  majesty, 
the  Great  I  am," — reached  my  understanding,  there 
went  up  from  the  soul's  deepest  profound  a  desire  to 
know  who,  what,  and  where  was  this  supreme  Ruler  of 
the  starry  skies. 

Scarcely  was  this  thought  fairly  formed,  when  a  deep 
slumber  gently  but  rapidly  stole  over  me.  How  long  it 
continued  I  know  not,  but  when  consciousness  for  a 
moment  returned  again,  I  found  myself  brushing  the 
dust  from  my  apparel,  beneath  the  trees  from  which 
my  first  journey  had  commenced.  This  occupation 
xould  not  have  lasted  more  than  a  minute,  when  I 
started  off  mechanically  toward  a  deeper  nook,  and 
more  secluded  spot  among  the  trees  and  bushes,  appa- 
rently guided  by  instinct,  or  directed  by  a  power  above 
myself.  And  I  lay  me  down,  as  if  wearied  with  undue 
physical  labor,  and  soon  a  gentle  buzzing  sound,  like 
unto  that  made  by  myriad  insects  when  the  Day-God 
hies  him  to  his  slumber,  and  all  the  great,  big  world  is 
still,  lulled  me  into  a  sweet  and  soft  repose.  And  a  deep 
sleep  fell  upon  my  eyelids ;  and  in  that  strange,  mys- 
terious rest,  I  experienced  that  which  was  not  all  a 
dream.  I  hasten  to  present  the  result  of  this  last  dis- 
play of  power. 

Lightly,  as  floats  the  atom  on  a  sunbeam,  swiftly  as 
the  bird  flies,  gaily  as  a  laughing  child,  a  spiritual 
form  sailed  stilly  through  the  Space.   Beneath  it  rolled 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  247 

the  globe,  its  black  mountains,  deep  valleys,  and  all  its 
silvery  seas  ;  above  it  twinkled  the  starry  shield  of 
Heaven  ;  and  afar  off,  on  either  hand,  great  suns  looked 
out  to  see  the  moving  panoply. 

And  still  the  soul  sped  on ;  until,  at  last,  its  earthly 
home  was  in  the  distance,  and  all  around  the  mighty 
Silence  reigned.  And  still  the  soul  swept  onward !  No 
dizziness,  no  faltering,  from  the  awful  sense  of  height, 
alarmed  it ;  no  fear  beset  its  bounding,  joyous,  happy 
heart.  That  soul  was  not  my  own,  for  the  reason  that 
no  man  can  possibly  predicate  ownership  of  a  soul — the 
thinking-principle — Mind  ;  for  soul  is  himself.  He  can 
speak  of,  and  say,  "  my  body,  limbs,  faculties,  qualities," 
and  so  forth,  with  correctness  and  propriety  ;  for  these 
are  his  incidents,  but  soul  is  himself — that  of  which  these 
incidents  obtain.  They  are,  to  coin  a  word,  the  out- 
sphering  of  the  inner  being  :  the  soul  was  me. 

In  a  little  while,  the  question,  "  What,  and  why  is 
this  ?  and  whither  am  I  going  ?"  rose  in  my  mind.  A 
silvery  voice  breathed  silently  into  my  spirit  this  re- 
sponse :  "  Whoso  truly  willeth  to  know,  shallknow,  by  rea- 
son of  the  relationship  between  himself  and  the  other  two 
members  of  the  great  Eternal  Trine,  provided  always 
that  the  wish  is  good,  and  its  realization  would  be  pro- 
ductive of  Excellence  and  Use. 

"  No  bad  man  can  earnestly  wish  and  will  good,  while 
he  is  bad  ;  if  he  does,  his  failure  is  certain :  not  so  with 
the  good  and  lofty  soul !  It  is  always  Welcome  to  the 
banquet  of  knowledge  ;  nor  is  the  gate  of  Wisdom  ever 
closed  to  it.  The  good  man  can  solve  all  mysteries  j 
the  good  woman  sound  the  depths  of  all  Music,  Love, 
and  Beauty.  Thus  the  saying  is  literally,  perfectly, 
absolutely  true,  which  affirms  that  if  ye  '  Seek  first  the 


248         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

Kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness,  all  things  else 
shall  be  added  unto  you  !7  " 

The  voice  was  that  of  the  fair  being,  whom  Thotmor 
called  his  own.  Previously  intent  upon  observing  the 
rapid  changes  about  me,  I  did  not,  until  that  moment, 
realize  that  both  these  auroral  spirits  attended  on  this, 
my  third  flight. 

"  Brother/'  continued  the  sweet  being,  "  Forget  not 
the  first  lesson  ;  the  second,  thou  art  now  receiving." 

For  a  little  while,  still  pondering  on  what  I  had  been 
taught,  and  still  moving  forward  and  upward,  I  made 
no  mental  response  or  observation.  Soon  recurred  to 
me,  the  phrase  used  by  the  female  teacher  a  little  time 
before  :  "  And  the  two  other  members  of  the  great 
Eternal  Trine.77  I  longed  to  know  the  meaning  ;  and 
at  that  instant  a  clearness  of  perception,  power  of  con- 
ception, and  ability  of  comprehension,  was  given  to  me, 
such  as  I  never  knew  before.  I  asked  mentally,  how 
tliis  came  about,  and  the  answer  came  to  my  understand- 
ing, through  the  channel  of  a  clear  intuition,  and  shaped 
itself  in  the  following  form,  as  nearly  as  words  will 
hold  it. 

"  The  earth  is  coarse,  yet  imprisons  the  refined.  It  is 
a  dense,  gross  substance,  a  heavy  rough  body,  but  it  has 
a  soul.  The  soul  of  the  world  is  spirit.  Every  atom 
of  matter  has  a  moving,  living,  active,  spiritual  centre. 
The  matter  enchains  the  spirit,  and  the  spirit  (the  prin- 
ciples of  Beauty,  Use,  Goodness,  Music,  Odor,  Tone. 
Sound,  Rhythm,  Shape,  Sympathy  and  Coherence,  con- 
stitute the  World-soul  or  spirit) — and  the  spirit  ever 
struggles  to  free  itself  from  its  unwilling  thraldom.  It 
can  only  do  so  by  working  up  the  material  of  its  prison 
house  into  forms  of  Excellence,  Use,  Beauty,  Sound, 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         249 

Tone,  Shape  and  Rhythm.  When  it  does  so,  it  escapes 
its  jail,  and  goes  back  to  God,  whence  it  originally 
came,  through  the  human  organization,  and  others  less 
perfect,  in  the  form  of  Odors,  Music,  Tone,  Sound, 
Beauty  (flowers,  forests,  &c.)  Art,  Color,  and  their  cog- 
nates. A  rose  is  that  success  in  its  struggle,  which  at- 
tends that  amount  and  phase  of  spirit,  working  out  its 
liberation,  from  and  through  matter,  by  means  of  its 
inherent  self — the  principles  named. 

There  are  two  Realms  :  Matter,  filled  with  spirit,  and 
Spirit  (abave,  beyond),  free  of  material  encumbrance- — 
the  great  Spiritual  Ocean,  in  which  all  the  worlds  are 
floating.*  The  World-soul  is  spirit,  negative :  the 
great  Ocean  is  spirit,  positive.  In  it  floats,  rained 
down  from  the  Infinite,  myriads  of  existences,  in  the 
form  of  Monads — each  one  a  particle  of  soul  given  off, 
so  to  speak,  from  the  great  Eternal  Brain. 

These  monads  are  not  spirit  negative,  such  as  is  con- 
tained in  and  constitutes  the  soul  of  the  world,  of  mat- 
ter in  all  its  million  forms  of  beasts,  birds,  reptiles,  and 
vegetation  ;  nor  spirit  positive,  such  as  constitutes  the 
Sea  whereon  the  worlds  do  float,  and  whose  finer  breath 
is  the  sphere  of  disembodied  souls ;  but  they  are  the 
original  soul-germs  of  immortal  beings — they  are  the 
sparks  which  fell,  and  fall  from  God  himself — particles 
of  the  Deific  brain,  unique,  sui  generis,  unparticled,  ho- 

*  I  realized  this  tremendous  truth.  The  links  of  the  chain  are  :  Gra- 
nite Rock,  Water,  Atmosphere,  extending  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  upward  ;  Electrical  Sea,  above  the  air,  one  hundred  miles  ;  Mag- 
netic Ocean,  one  hundred  more ;  above  that,  each  remove  being  as 
great  as  between  the  first  two,  the  ocean  of  Electrime,  one  hundred 
miles  (the  figures  are  approximative  only).  '  Next  an  ocean  of  Magnet- 
ime,  then  Ether,  then  Ethyle,  and  then  the  great  Ocean  of  Spirit  posi- 
tive.   All  the  rest  are  cushions,  as  it  were,  to  this,  our  world. 


250  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

mogeneous:  old  as  Deity,  young  as  the  new-born  in- 
fant ;  always  existed,  ever  will  exist.  They  are  Pha- 
souls  (Fay-souls,)  or  Monads. 

I  now  realized  this  strange  truth  :  that  the  conscious 
soul  that  constituted  me  was  now  beyond,  as  it  were,  all 
the  circumvolving  material  atmospheres  surrounding, 
earth,  and  that  it  was  rapidly  approaching  the  awful 
and  vast  Spiritual  Ocean.  Presently  it  ceased  its 
flight,  turned  earthward,  and  made  the  following  dis- 
covery :  first,  the  Spikitual  pervaded  the  Ethylic  Sea  : 
this,  in  turn,  the  Etherial ;  that,  the  Magnetimic  ;  that, 
in  turn,  Electrimic  ;  that,  the  Magnetic  ;  that,  the  Elec- 
tric ;  and  that,  in  turn,  the  Earth  Sphere,  or  '  Odylic' 
emanation,  which  in  turn  pervades  the  atmospheric  or 
Oxygenic  ;  so  that  man  really  breathes  several,  instead 
of  a  single  atmosphere — the  highest  of  which  quickens 
the  spirit,  as  the  lower  does  the  body. 

Turning  the  gaze  outward,  a  fine,  glorious,  soft,  sil- 
very sea  was  seen  spreading  away  in  all  directions ; 
and  the  eye  had  no  difficulty  in  traversing  space,  as  on 
earth  it  has,  through  the  corporeal  structure  and  the 
several  earth-airs.  In  this  clear  expanse  of  Spirit  floats 
uncounted  globular  monads,  infinite  in  number,  infini- 
tesimal in  volume  ;  they  are  each  enveloped  in  a  fine 
electric  substance,  which  surrounds  them  perfectly.  The 
spiritual  waves  bear  them  on  its  bosom  to  the  earth  ; 
they,  by  a  mysterious  power,  are  drawn  to  the  human 
male  brain,  through  the  lungs  ;  they  enter  it,  become 
lodged,  remain  till  a  certain  physical  work  is  completed, 
and  then  descend  and  effect  their  mission  through  the 
aid  of  the  prostate  gland.  At  certain  times,  they  quit 
this,  pass  into  the  uterus,  enveloped  in  the  prostatic 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  251 

niulse  ;  are  caught  up— are  carried  to  the  womb,  and — 
the  work  of  incarnation  is  effected .* 

Here,  in  these  aerial  Kingdoms,  beyond  the  domain  of 
matter  and  the  sphere  of  what  we  call  Nature,  or  Natu- 
ral Law,  which  of  course  does  not  govern  Spirit,  it  hav- 
ing a  mode  of  its  own,  I  found  two  sorts  of  monads — 
the  one  perfectly  globular,  which  constitutes  the  germ 
of  the  man — the  others  ovoidal,  which  constitutes  the 
germ  of  the  female.  There  are  always  two  together :  in 
couples  they  come  from  the  Eternal  God,  in  couples 
they  return. 

Placed  in  the  uterus,  these  come  in  loving  relations 
with  a  subtile  spirit  originally  in  the  female  monad, 
subsequently  energized  in  the  woman,  condensed  in  the 
1  ova/  and  there  is  a  blending  of  elements — the  exter- 
nal of  the  monad,  and  the  internal  of  the  ova  ;  and  from 
this  blending  springs  a  third  something,  which  is  the 
nucleus  of  the  nervous  body,  so  to  speak.  This  nucleus 
robs  all  earthly  things  of  their  vital  life — plants,  flow- 
ers, food,  drink,  and  so  on — through  the  instrumental- 
ity of  all  the  bodily  organs.  -  This  union  produces  an 
improvement  in  both  ;  together,  they  attract  the  great 
spiritual  substance  or  atmosphere  pervading  our  air, 
and  then  the  child  is  quickened,  and  rises  in  the  pelvis  ; 
the  very  instant  that  the  first  spark  of  this  great  spir- 
itual atmosphere  passes  into  the  babe,  the  monad  in- 
creases in  bulk,  bursts  its  bonds  or  envelopes,  passes 
from  the  foetal  lungs  to  its  brain,  locates  in  the  pineal 
gland,  radiates  through  the  corpus  collossum,  energizes 
its  body,  and,  lo  !  a  soul  has  entered  upon  a  new  career. 

*  My  business  is  with  facts  here  ;  therefore,  I  shall  briefly  state  what 
I  beheld,  and  leave  others  to  theorize — satisfied,  as  I  am,  that  I  have 
penetrated  the  Grand  Secret, 


252  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

As  said  before,  the  soul  grows — grows  in  two  ways  : 
first,  by  development — unfolding  and  awakening  ;  sec- 
ond, by  acquired  knowledge  and  experience.  The  lat- 
ter is  of  and  for  the  earth,  the  former  is  of  and  for  the 
soul  itself.  The  one  depends  on  circumstance  and  acci- 
dent, the  other  is  above  and  beyond  both.  There  may 
never  be  much  of  the  latter,  but  the  former  will,  must 
go  on  to  Infinity.  Both  may  go  on  to  a  great  extent  on 
earth  ;  one  certainly  will  in  the  Hereafter. 

All  these  things  I  felt,  I  saw,  and  knew,  as  I  floated 
there  on  the  shores  of  the  Spiritual  Kingdoms. 

Have  you  ever  beheld  the  golden  rain  of  a  rocket,  on 
a  stilly  summer  night  ?  You  have  ?  Well,  just  so  God 
rains  monads  from  Himself !  Spirit  is  the  emanation 
from  God's  body  !  Monads  are  corruscations  from  His 
Soul !  These  truths  can  never  be  demonstrated ;  all 
spiritual  truth  is  real,  and  demonstration  is  effective 
only  in  reference  to  fleeting  appearances.  The  logical 
faculty  deals  with  what  pertains  to  us  on  earth  ;  that 
which  pertains  to  the  Spiritual,  requires  some  higher 
power  of  the  soul.  It  has  it — in  the  Intuitions.  The 
logical  faculty  deals  with  Progress  ;  Intuition  with  De- 
velopment— unfolding  :  organic  the  one — central-soul 
the  other.  Intuition  will  one  day  substantiate  my  dis- 
coveries— when  I  am  dead,  and  this  writing  is  a  cen- 
tury old. 

At  present  there  is  really  no  Spiritual  Philosophy  at 
all — scarcely  an  approximation  thereto.  Wo  have  not 
even  a  spiritual  nomenclature,  and  it  is  exceedingly 
difficult  to  convey  spiritual  facts  or  ideas  in  terms  no- 
toriously adapted  only  to  the  expression  of  transitory 
earthly  knowledge. 

Swedenborg's  ideas  are  worth  all  others  on  the  great 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  253 

subject,  yet  he  even  must  be  read  in  Latin  or  German, 
to  be  correctly  understood.  The  English  is  the  tongue 
of  commerce — has  too  much  ring  of  the  dollar  in  it — to 
be  used  to  express  spiritual  things.  I  shall  try  to  con- 
vey my  experiences  so  as  to  be  understood  ;  yet  how 
can  I  hope  to  be  ?— how  make  the  fact  known,  that 
one  human  soul  is  actually  larger,  deeper,  greater,  than 
this  whole  material  globe  ? — that  it  has  a  sun,  within 
the  cerebrum  •  a  moon,  the  solar  plexus  ;  that  its  sun 
rises  (when  we  wake),  and  sets,  retires  to  the  vertebral 
column,  sinks  within  the  great  ganglion,  behind  the 
stomach,  when  we  sleep  ;  that  it  has  stars,  the  nerve- 
villi ;  planets,  the  ganglia  ;  it  has  a  milky  way,  the  great 
nervous  cord ;  comets,  and,  in  short,  everything  that 
the  outer  world  has,  and  much  beside.  How  shall  I 
express  these  facts  so  as  to  be  understood  ?  for  the 
terms  I  use  do  not  convey  the  exact  meaning.  Who 
can  understand  that  the  soul  has  hills,  mountains,  val- 
leys, and  so  forth  ?  Yet  it  hath  all  these  things  in  a 
higher  and  heavenly  sense.  Still  more  difficult  will  it 
be  to  prove  or  show  that  the  Bible  saying,  that  "  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  within"  every  one,  is  a  literal 
truth.  The  soul,  per  se,  contains  within  itself  the  sum 
total  of  a  dozen  universes,  each  differing  from  the  other, 
each  one  overlying  that  beneath  it  ;  and  just  as^fast  as 
the  soul  outgrows,  unfolds  from,  or  'vastates'  either  of 
these,  new  and  higher  ones  become  apparent,  just  as 
there  dwells  an  appreciation  of  the  refined  and  beauti- 
ful in  every  coarse  man  or  woman  ;  but,  in  order  that 
this  esthetic  sense  shall  come  out  and  be  active,  a  cer- 
tain discipline  is  essential,  the  result  of  which  is  a  vas- 
tation  and  throwing  off  of  what  impeded  and  obstructed 
this  beauty-sense.     This  is  the  end  and  mission  of  edu- 


254  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

cation  or  discipline.  Our  principal  life — for  we  lead 
several  at  the  same  time,  is  the  life  of  Imagination. 
"We  form,  in  fact  create,  by  a  mystic  power  not  yet  un- 
derstood, whole  galleries  of  paintings,  figures,  adven- 
tures and  circumstances,  '  houses  in  Spain/  '  castles  in 
the  air.'  These  are  our  in-creations,  because,  while  yet 
in  the  body,  they  loom  up  in  the  deep,  distant  depths  of 
the  mind,  as  images  more  or  less  vague  and  shadowy. 
They  are  as  yet  within  us,  pictured,  as  they  are,  upon 
the  outer  surfaces  of  the  soul,  yet  within  the  radius  of 
the  spirit. 

After  death,  these  become  the  realities  of  our  then 
existence,  are  the  spontaneous  out-births  or  out-crea- 
tions of  our  souls,  and  in  them  we  live,  move,  and  have 
our  being — happy,  joyous,  pleasant,  provided  our  souls 
are  beautiful,  calm,  and  serene  ;  but  if  they  be  not  so, 
then  those  out-creations  are  full  of  horrors — serpents, 
noisome  things,  reptiles  and  dead  men's  bones. 

Pew,  very  few  clairvoyants  have  ever  beheld  the  reali- 
ties of  the  spiritual  world.  I  know  of  but  few,  contem- 
poraneous or  historical,  whom  I  believe  to  have  ever 
beheld  the  mysteries  of  the  other  life.  Amongst  t!Te 
few,  Behmen,  Swedenborg,  and  Harris  stand  pre-emi- 
nent. The  others — some  of  them  honest,  doubtless,  but 
often  deluded — have  beheld  their  own  out-creations,  or 
the  spiritual  photographs  on  the  sky-surfaces  of  things 
and  events  pertaining  to  the  earth.  Every  out-creation 
differs  from  all  others  ;  hence  arises  the  annoying  dis- 
crepancies and  diverse  accounts  of  the  same  things, 
which  we  are  constantly  receiving — as,  for  instance,  the 
spirit-land,  the  sun,  moon,  planets,  and  their  occupants, 
as  given  by  various  so-called  modern  seers.  The  mem- 
ory of  man  is  internal  to  himself  while  here,  but  after 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         255 

death  it  is,  as  it  were,  the  furniture  of  the  parlor  where- 
in he  lives  on  the  other  side  of  time  ;  and  these  tableau- 
vivants,  or  living  pictures,  when  seen  by  clairvoyants, 
are  passed  off  upon  men  as  the  revelation  of  realities, 
when  they  are  but  the  ephemera  of  existence.  Spirits 
tell  us  of  their  legs,  lungs,  bodies,  lands,  parks,  and  so 
forth, — and  of  their  gardens,  houses,  trees,  forests,  and 
the  like.  All  this  is  very  well,  and  are  spiritual  facts 
to  them,  yet  are  but  the  out-creations  of  the  human  soul, 
which  really  has  no  legs,  arms,  and  so  forth,  because  the 
soul  is  mind,  and  can  have  no  possible  use  for  these 
things  ;*yet,  for  a  long  period,  these  very  things  are 
realities  to  the  spirit  and  to  clairvoyants. 

The  fact  is,  good  spirits  do  not  appear  one-tenth  as 
often  as  imagined  ;  the  majority  of  spiritual  appear- 
ances are  but  out-creations — subjective  images  of  the 
seer,  objectified— else  are  psychological  projections  of 
other  minds — images  impressed  upon  the  susceptible 
person's  brain. 

The  spiritual  world,  as  it  is  generally  mapped  out  to 
us,  appears  but  a  few  degrees  in  advance  of  this  one, 
on  the  same  general  plane,  if  we  are  to  believe  the  tales 
told  us  concerning  it ;  while  the  fact  is,  that  world  is 
not  like  this  in  any  respect.  It  is  not  a  place,  literally 
speaking,  but  is  a  condition — a  single  one  of  thousands 
that  have  been — of  millions  yet  to  be.  Dream-life  is  a 
good  illustration  of  my  meaning.  It  is  a  condition  of 
the  soul.'  In  it,  we  have  a  life  actual,  real,  absolute  ; 
not  in  far-off  regions,  because  we  are  still  in  our  bed- 
rooms ;  but  in  the  midst  of  our  own  private  domain, 
our  own  out-creations,  our  personal  universe, 

The  human  soul,  as  said  before,  is  a  divine  kaleides- 
cope,  which  forever  changes,  yet  never  exhausts  its  ca- 


256         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

pacity,  either  for  change,  or  for  appreciation  for  the  bliss 
thence  derived,  or  of  trouble  encountered.  So  we  have 
no  need  of  legs  in  the  spirit- world,  because  our  move- 
ments are  not  with  reference  to  space— we  have  done 
with  roads  and  distances  there  ;  but  our  changes  are  of 
state  or  condition.  Illustration :  Anna  is  a  beautiful 
girl — pious,  good,  pure,  excellent ;  sits  beside  her  lover, 
John — a  polished  scoundrel  in  every  sense.  One  bullet 
kills  both,  instantly.  They  die  on  the  spot.  Both 
awake  in  the  other  life — in  the  same  room,  yet  are  a 
million  miles  apart,  because  their  respective  mental 
states  determine  their  relation  to  each  other  there,  albeit 
other  things  determine  it  here. 

They  may  never  not  only  not  meet  again,  but  never 
know  aught  of  each  other,  so  vast  is  the  real  distance 
(condition)  between  the  twain.  The  spiritual  world  of 
the  one  will  abound  with  forms  of  beauty,  use,  goodness  : 
that  of  the  other  will  abound  with  toads,  swamps, 
snakes,  bugs  and  unseemly  things.  Why  ? — because 
each  is  surrounded  with  his  or  her  personal  out-crea- 
tions. Each  communicating  back  to  earth,  will  tell 
what  each  beholds  ;  both  will  be  true,  yet  both  fail  to 
give  even  the  ghost  of  a  real  notion  about  the  absolute 
supernal  world.  Whatever  we  are,  we  see  ;  whatever 
we  want,  is  there  before  us — we  have.  Thus  we  can 
ascend  in  goodness,  or  sink  away  to  the  very  depths  of 
hell — both  our  own,  however.  *  *  *  *  *  And  all  these 
things  came  to  me  there,  as  I  floated  on  a  wave  of  the 
sea  of  knowledge. 

Self-induced  psycho-vision  often  passes  as  the  product 
of  spirits.  The  line  is  yet  to  be  drawn  between  the 
seeming  and  the  real  in  this  respect.  Spirits  first  are 
monads— spiritual  (psychal)  atoms — God-existent  from 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         257 

all  past  eternity  :  Secondly,  they  are  awakened  beings, 
self-existent  to  all  future  states— not  times  merely  : 
Thirdly,  at  physical  birth  they,  as  monads,  cease  to  be  ; 
at  physical  death  a  change  as  complete  and  great  as  the 
last  occurs.  And  now  they  have  passed  through,  and 
across  three  eternities  ;  that  of  monads,  matter,  and 
spirit ;  and  fourthly,  they  remain  in  no  condition  above 
a  century  (which  accounts  for  the  fact  that  no  well- 
authenticated  instance  of  intercourse  with  a  spirit  over 
a  century  dead,  has  yet  been  recorded)  ;  lastly,  they 
ever  pass  onward,  and  each  condition  differs  from  the 
last,  as  does  sleep  from  wakefulness.  There  are  mil- 
lions of  these  changes.  It  takes  about  a  century  to 
graduate  and  gravitate  from  one  condition  to  another. 
When  we  pass  from  this  world,  we  take  some  things 
with  us  which  we  are  obliged  to  unlearn  there.  Thus, 
some  want  drink,  others  rest,  fruit,  land,  houses,  money, 
and  so  forth  ;  some  want  children  and  desire  to  cohabit 
as  on  earth.  All  have  just  what  they  want  ;  only  that 
the  children  begotten  there,  are  mere  phasmas— -just  as 
by  a  powerful  effort  we  can  create  a  beautiful  puppy 
dog,  and  hold  it  as  an  ideal  before  our  eyes  while  here. 

A  crazy  smn's  golden  crown  and  throne,  although  to 
us  nothing  but  straw  and  bits  of  stone,  are  to  him  gold 
and  diamonds  ;  and  flash  forth  the  richest  scintillations 
of  the  most  precious  jewels.  It  is  a  state  of  the  mind. 
Millions  of  crazy  people  inhabit  both  worlds  ;  whence  - 
it  follows  that  insanity  is  a  disease  of  the  mind,  as  well 
as  a  result  of  organic  and  chemical  change  and  dis- 
turbance in  the  body. 

It  is  hard  to  describe  spiritual  things  in  material 
language.  Amongst  all  the  flood  of  "  Spiritual  litera- 
ture," I  know  of  no  single  work  that  gives  the  faintest 


258  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

idea  of  spiritual  actualities.*  All  that  passes  current, 
as  such,  is  far  more  ideal  and  material  than  spiritual, 
and  are  referable,  as  to  their  origin,  to  excited  ideality, 
and  other  peculiar  mental  states,  rather  than  to  the 
Supernal  world.  Amidst  the  three  million  speeches  a 
year,  delivered  under  professed  spirit  influence,  it  is  my 
deliberate  conviction,  that  not  over  ten  in  one.  thousand 
has  its  source  in  the  pure  Soul-realm,  but  many  origin- 
ate in  the  Middle-states  of  the  spiritual  world  ;  very 
many  of  the  vivid  and  beautiful  descriptions  of  spirit 
life,  scenery  and  so  forth,  which  so  please  us  to  hear,  are 
transcripts  from  the  individuals'  inner-self,  or  rather  of 
the  out-creations  thereof.  Of  course,  these  are  true 
to  the  individual,  but  to  no  one  else  :  let  it  be  once 
remembered  that  the  man  is  as  immortal  in  the  past,  as 
he  is  now,  and  will  be  ;  and  that  during  that  state  (as 
Monad  or  Pha-soul)  of  pre-carnate  being,  he  had  an  expe- 
rience as  real  to  him  then,  as  his  present  is  to  him  now  ; 
and  we  shall  no  longer  marvel  at  genius,  or  at  the  stu- 
pendous powers  of  the  human  mind.  During  the  sub- 
lime experiences  of  my  soul,  which  I  am  endeavor- 
ing to  recount,  I  became  thoroughly  satisfied,  not  as 
the  medium,  not  from  spiritual  teaching,  butrfrom  soul- 
observation,  that  man,  like  God,  had  no  beginning,  as 
did  matter  as  we  know  it — and  that  like  Him,  he  will 
never  positively  have  an  end  ;  albeit  the  modes  of  God, 
and  those  of  man — for  at  bottom,  they  are  one,  contin- 
ually change  conditions.  This  brings  us  to  the  ques- 
tion, "  What  is  God  ?»****    Up  there,t  upon 


*  If  we  except  Swedenborg,  and  a  fugitive  lecture  or  two,  by  persons 
not  necessary  to  be  named  herein. 

1 1  now  discovered  that  "  up"  was  a  condition  of  soul  and  spirit — 
and  that  to  both,  time  and  space  did  not  exist. 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         259 

the  beautiful  ether,  all  was  still  and  silent  music,  yet 
moving  in  Beauty,  Order,  and  Form — which  were  out- 
creations  of  one  Eternal  Monad,  self-conscious  and 
awful — shone  a  sun  of  ineffable  glory  and  majesty — the 
Omnipotent  God. 

This  sun  shines  in  the  heaven  of  spirit,  just  as  the 
comparatively  tiny  and  material  suns  illuminate  the 
material  universe.  The  spiritual  does  not  glide  into 
the  material,  but  is  from  and  above  it,  just  in  the  sense 
that  the  meaning  of  a  sentence  is  above  the  sounds  .or 
characters  which  convey  it — and  in  no  other.  The  grand 
procession  of  material  universes  constantly  sweeps 
along  the  Eternities  j  receive  Light,  Life  and  Love 
thence  ;  fructify  ;  incarnate  the  monad's  Beauty,  Con- 
sciousness, Form,  Order,  Law,  Music,  and  Number,  in 
human  souls  ;  and  then  exhaustion  prepares  the  self- 
same material  universes — or  rather,  their  bases  for  a 
new  infiltration — of  God-Od,  so  to  speak,  differing 
from  the  last ;  and  so  on  forever.  One  procession  is 
one  Eternity — or  rather,  Cycle.  •  Thus  it  will  be  seen, 
by  those  who  can  grasp  this  tremendous  thought,  that 
all  matter — the  amazing  system  of  substance,  is  after 
all,  but  a  mere  fleck — a  mote  in  the  sun-rays — a  mere 
grain  o  a  the  awful  shores  of  the  stupendous  Spiritual 
Ocean  ;  nor  does  all  the  matter  existing,  bear  a  greater 
proportion  to -the  spiritual,  than  an  orange  does  in  bulk 
to  the  Rocky  Mountain  Chain.  The  material  systems 
move  near  its  centre,  and  the  spiritual  waves  flow  on 
all  sides  into  the  Ineffable  Beyond.  ^ 

The  fountain,  whence  they  flow  is  God  !  and  this 
word  "  God7'  is  a  poor  name.  Men  become  "  gods"  in 
the  great  hereafter — gods  for  Good,  Use  and  Order, 
or  the  opposite  of  these  ;  but  this,  of  which  I  speak,  the 


260         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

Eternal  Secret,  the  awful,  yet  radiant  Mystery,  is  as 
far  beyond  the  Ideal  Jehovah,  as  is  the  human  beyond 
the  analid.  Let  us  make  a  chain  :  Matter  is  the  first 
link  :  Spirit  is  the  second — I  speak  of  Universes  now, 
remember  ;  Soul — that  which  constitutes  the  Human 
THiNK-principle,  is  the  ihird  ;  well,  this  Over-Soul 
flows  through  all  these,  as  man's  spirit  through  his 
body.  Now  man  is  conscious  only  partly  ;  he  knows 
nothing  just  on  the  other  side  of  himself,  is  ignorant  of 
what  life  is,  and  of  that  august  power  which  governs  h  is 
involuntary  self.  Well,  the  Over-Soul  flows  out  into 
the  All — into  the  universe  of  Think,  (I  can  use  no 
other  term,)  into  that  of  Soul,  Monads,  Spirit,  Matter  ; 
and  while  pervading  and  being  imminent  in  All,  is 
self-conscious  at  every  point ;  in  the  Think,  the  Monad, 
the  Soul,  the  Spirit,  the  Matter,  in  every  particle  that  is, 
or  can  ever  be.  I  hold  this,  as  the  truest  definition  of 
the  Deity  yet  given  ;  and  in  the  radiant  presence  of 
such  a  thought,  all  human  things  must  bow  *  all  human 
pride  stand  back,  all  human  ideas  pale  and  fade.  *  * 
And  these  things  came  to  me,  and  I  believe  them  true. 
And  God  is  not  good,  but  beyond  it ;  is  not  truth,  but 
its  foundation  ;  is  not  power,  nor  Life,  nor  Think,  but 
beyond,  beneath,  above  all  these  !  Spirit  may  be  repre- 
sented as  the  soul  of  matter  :  Soul  as  the  inmost  of 
Spirit ;  Monad  as  the  base  of  Soul ;  Think,  as  the 
essence  of  Monad  ;  God  as  the  Soul  of  Think.  Here, 
let  no  man  smile  at  these  uncouth  expressions  ;  they 
stand  as  symbols  of  mighty  truths.  I  have  said  that 
Monads  were  scintillations  from  God's  brain  :  They 
are  :  That  Matter  was  the  proceeding  from  his  body. 
Monads  are  forms  of  thought,  and  are  the  bubbles  on 
His  ever-rising  tide  of  Soul.    Hence,  these  monads 


DEALINGS   WITH  THE- DEAD.    (  261 

are,  so  to  speak,  the  givings  off  of  his  spirit.  God's 
Spirit  is  the  element,  Soul  ;  but  of  this  Soul,  none  but 
Himself  knoweth. 

And  as  I  floated  there  on  the  sea  of  knowledge,  an 
impulse  sprung  up  to  know  more  ;  and  these  questions 
were  fashioned  in  my  soul,  and  that  soul  derived  from 
out  the  mystery  the  answers  appended  to  each  question  : 
"  Is  not  man  forever  in  the  human  form  ?"  In  human 
form,  yes  ;  in  human  shape,  no  :  Man  was  once  the 
monad — a  finite  sun.  He  still  is  so  as  to  himself  (see 
a  previous  section),  and  the  body  which  nevuses  is  but 
an  out-creation,  as  are  his  mental  pictures ;  with  the 
difference  that  the  latter  are  volitional  and  circumstan- 
tial, while  the  former  is  constitutional.  The  shape, — 
organic,  is  the  very  best  adapted  to  the  purposes  it 
serves,  and  it  is  the  effect  of  a  force  lying  behind  the 
personal  consciousness.  Its  use  is  for  the  material  ;  it 
could  have  none  in  the  spiritual  world,  save  as  the 
effect  of  Soul-habit,  or  as  a  means  of  discipline  in  the 
lesser  or  "  lower "  departments  or  conditions  thereof. 
"  How  of  dead  infants  ?"  Infants  have  spiritual  bodies, 
and  retain  them  till  discipline  places  them  beyond  the 
necessity.  In  all  cases,  the  bodily  forms  are  attach- 
ments to  the  human,  so  long  as  the  human  is  in  the 
sphere  of  discipline, — hence  moves  within  the  possibili- 
ties of  Good  and  Evil.  When  they  leave  this  latter, 
and  merge  into  the  sphere  of  Uses,  the  external  of  the 
soul  corresponds  to  its  new  state.  A  soul  is  imma- 
terial, as  of  the  nature  of  Think, — hence  needs  no 
stomach  to  digest  food,  lungs  to  breathe  air,  legs  for 
locomotion,  and  so  forth  ;  for  all  these  are  principles  of 
the  soul,  with  mere  out-created  organs.    When  it  needs 


262  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

the  organs  no  longer,  it  dispenses  therewith,  but  the 
principles  underlying  them  still  remain, 

"  Unhurt  amid  the  rush  of  warring  elements, 
The  wreck  of  matter,  and  the  crush  of  worlds." 

A  man  sits  in  his  study,  and  thinks  of  his  father's 
house,  many,  many  miles  away.  He  sees  it  ; — well, 
brook,  barn,  trees,  garden,  flowers,— -all,  all  just  as 
they  really  exist.  Now,  the  man's  body,  being  a  mere 
thing  of  circumstance,  still  remains  in  the  study,  but  the 
man  himself  is  gone  ;  his  body  and  spirit  are  in  the 
room,  but  himself  is  at  the  old  homestead.  Space,  time, 
and  flight  are  not  to  the  soul, — only  to  forms  and 
things  of  coarser  nature  and  lesser  majesty. 

The  soul  thinks  "I  am  there,"  and — there  it  is. 
Certain  persons,  gifted,  can  see  things  spiritual  5  all 
persons  can  at  times,  and  frequently  are  sensible  of  the 
presence  of  others,  whose  bodies  are  far  away.  They 
are  made  sensible  of  it  by  soul-contact.  It  is  possible 
for  a  man  to  project  an  image  of  himself  to  any  dis- 
tance, which  image  shall  be  mistaken  for  himself. 
These  images,  being  such,  of  course,  cannot  speak  when 
questioned  by  whoever  sees  them.  Whoever  can  pic- 
ture the  exact  simulacrum  of  himself,  can  will  this 
figure  whither  soever  he  may  choose,  and  then  persons 
who  behold  this  declare  they  have  seen  his  "  spectre," 
"  phantom,7'  "  ghost,"  "  wraith,"  or  "  double."  Again, 
the  man  of  strong  will  and  pure  desires  may  quit  the 
body  spiritually,  actually,  and  be  perceptible  to  others 
at  a  distance  ;  may  be  spoken  to,  hold  conversations, 
and  move  material  objects,  when  his  body  lies  scores  of 
leagues  away. 

"  Are  there  demons  ?"    Yes,  two  kinds  :  forms  of 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.  263 

fear,  corresponding  to  a  man's  bad  moral  state, — pro- 
jected out-creations  from  the  wicked  self.  Such  are 
the  fiends,  snakes,  toads,  devils  and  horrid  monsters 
seen  by  the  victim  of  delirium  tremens.  Of  the  same 
order,  but  beautiful,  instead  of  the  reverse,  are  the 
angels,  ghillim,  houris,  fairy-forms,  peris  and  naiads, 
seen  by  the  rapt  enthusiasts  of  all  ages  and  climes,  but 
especially  of  the  Orient,  when  inspired  by  opium,  love, 
and  religion  ;  out-creations  of  their  inmost  soute, — sub- 
jective images  objectified.  This  species  of  out-projec- 
tion pertains  to  all  persons,  while  under  the  discipline 
of  good  and  evil,  virtue  and  vice,  and  all  other  material 
conditions  and  accidents.  "  What  do  you  mean  by 
virtue  and  vice,  as  material  incidents  ? "  I  mean  that 
good  and  evil  are  but  conditions  environing  man,  while 
under  the  sway  of  his  inevitable  discipline. 


There  is  such  a  thing  as  the  spirit  of  Community.  A 
mob  is  a  fearful  thing,  a  dreadful  power,  and  it  developes 
a  ferocity  which  does  not  inhere  in  any  one  of  the  multi- 
tude composing  it — a  material  energy  of  awful  force. 
A  reasoner  can  take  aside,  one  by  one,  an  entire 
audience,  and  convince  them  thus  of  the  justice  of  the 
cause  he  advocates  ;  but,  let  them  be  combined,  and  he 
shall  not  be  .able  to  convince  the  general  sense,  nor  suc- 
ceed in  evoking  aught  but  derisive  sneers  at  his  "  imbe- 
cility. "  Or  conversely  :  he  may  not  be  able  to  convince 
the  people,  taken  singly,  yet,  let  him  pour  out  his  soul 
before  them,  congregated,  and  he  shall  sway  them  as  the 
tempest  sways  the  forest — material  energy  in  both  cases. 
Again  :  vice  is  frequently  not  considered  in  the  act 
itself,  but  in  the  how  society  views  it.     Thus,  adultery, 


264  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

in  France,  is  laughed  at  as  "  the  mere  affair  of  a  sofa  ;" 
in  England,  its  penalty  is  a  black  eye  or  so,  and  half  a 
crown  a  week  ;  in  the  Orient,  it  is  a  matter  of  course  ; 
in  the  Southern  States,  it  is  a  legal  and  very  peculiar 
institution  ;  and  in  New  England  it  is  a  fearful  crime  ; 
and  yet  is,  notwithstanding,  a  very  fashionable  vice,  in 
spite  of  bolts  and  bars  ;  one,  too,  that  has  lately  stained 
not  a  few  preachers  of  the  gospel.  Adultery,  so  far  as 
individuals  are  concerned,  is,  except  in  rare  instances, 
a  thing  of  terrible  moment ;  but,  alas  !  the  very  ones 
who  make  the  most  noise  about  it,  denounce  it  the 
loudest  and  prosecute  the  sinners  most  grievously,  are 
the  very  ones  who  are  particularly  weak  in  that  direc- 
tion themselves.  Many  a  judge  has  left  the  bench, 
wherefrom  he  had  just  sentenced  some  weak  one  to  long 
years  of  penal  servitude,  to  revel  in  a  wanton's  arms  ! 
Individuals  are  governed  by  personal  laws  and  in- 
fluences ;  but  society,  community,  the  mob,  develope  an 
"opinion"  or  "sentiment/7  before  which  all  chari- 
table, just,  or  personal  considerations  vanish  and  are 
forgotten.  Many  a  jury,  if  individual  preferences 
were  allowed  scope,  would  free  the  culprit  whom  the 
"twelve"  consign  to  dungeon  or  the  gibbet.  This  is 
material  force !  Again  :  A  fellow  hires  himself  out  as 
a  soldier,  to  commit  homicide  as  often  as  he  can  ; — goes 
out ;  does  so  ;  comes  back,  after  making  a  dozen  or 
two, — perhaps  a  hundred  orphans*;  —settles  down  in 
life,  beneath  his  "  laurels,"  lives  to  a  good  old  age,  dies, 
and  goes  to — hell, — I  think,  with  ne'er  a  pang  or  qualm 
of  conscience.  Why  ?  Because  the  community  smiles 
on  him  and  sustains,  as  a  mass,  the  very  thing — man- 
killing — that  every  one  of  them,  taken  singly,  condemns 
and  must  ever  disapprove. 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         265 

This  personal  feeling  is  Common  Sense.  The  other 
is  Public  Opinion.  The  last  is  always  wrong  ;  the 
other  is  always  right.  The  individual  is  generally  just, 
the  community  very  seldom.  Public  opinion  is,  there- 
fore, a  mere  physical  power;  and  as  such,  eternally 
changes.  Common  sense,  on  the  contrary,  ever  and 
always  accretes  and  intensifies,  spreads  and  grows 
stronger  as  the  years  and  people  pass  away ;  the  one  is 
accidental  and  material ;  the  other,  personal,  constitu- 
tional, and  real.  Now  take  a  couple  of  other  men,  con- 
stituted precisely  as  was  our  soldier  :  let  them,  each  for 
himself,  commit  a  genteel  murder  ;  one  gets  caught  at 
it  and  is  strung  up  and  choked  to  death  in  a  period  of 
time,  varying  from  four  to  twenty  minutes ;  choked  till 
his  eyes  bulge  out,  his  tongue  lolls  thick  and  swollen 
from  his  mouth — by  a  fellow  who  gets  paid  for  the  job. 
Society  says  this  is  right  as  Society ;  but  take  every 
one  that  composes  it  aside,  and  let  him  look  on  that 
blue-black  throat,  at  those  bulging  eye-balls,  contorted 
features,  and  ghastly  carrion  ;  ten  thousand  to  one, 
that  every  man  of  them  will  denounce  this  legal 
choking  affair  as  a  damnable  piece  of  buisness,  totally 
unworthy  of  a  savage,  much  less  civilized  (?)  men  and 
women. 

Here  you  see  the  thing  is  material — is  the  monstrous 
out-creation  of  the  social  body,  and  not  at  all  related 
to  man,  as  an  individual.  How  happens  this  out-crea- 
tion of  the  body-politic  to  be  so  terrible  ?  just  go  back 
a  few  pages  and  you  will  see  that  "the  out-creation 
always  corresponds  to  the  condition  of  the  being 
whence  it  emanates."  The  great  mass  is  barbarous  to- 
day ;  and  civilization,  much  less  Spiritualization,  is  the 
exception  to  the  general  rule  and  order.  Bye-and-bye 
12 


266         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

civilization  will  be  the  rule,  and  then  we  shall  have  a 
better  "Public  Opinion;'7  therefore,  less  hanging,  and 
things  of  that  sort.     Let  us  work  for  it. 

Turn  we  now  to  the  fellow  that  earned  his  ten  dollars 
by  performing  the  choking  operation — the  nice  young 
gentleman  who  so  gaily  looped  the  rope  and  pulled  the 
neat  little  spring  which  sent  a  soul  to  God  on  a  yard 
of  twisted  hemp.  How  does  he  feel  when-  the  job  is 
over?  Why,  not  at  all  uneasy.  The  guilt  of  doing 
this  wicked  thing  is  not  Ms,  he  feels — albeit,  he  and  I 
disagree  on  this  point.  It  is  not  his,  and  so  he  "  don't 
care  a  fig."  That's  it  exactly.  He,  like  the  choked- 
to-death,  whose  eyes  bulge  out,  who  bleeds  at  the  ears, 
whose  tongue  is  so  largely  swollen  that  it  won't  stay  in 
his  blood-slavered  mouth — he,  too,  I  say,  has  sent  a  soul 
prematurely  cross-lots  home ;  but  feeleth  he  remorse  ? 
No  more  than  a  good  dram  of  sixpenny  damnation  will 
drown — but  not  forever  !  Oh,  no ! — for  just  as  sure  as 
God  reigns,  he  must  come  up  to  the  bar  for  sentence, 
and  must  expiate  his  error  somewhere,  at  some  time. 

The  judge,  the  jury,  the  legislators — all,  just  as  the 
executioner,  feel  that  they  are  clear  of  even  this  judicial 
murder,  and  at  last,  we  trace  the  responsibility  home  to 
a  formless,  brainless  monster,  without  a  body,  yet  with 
a  great  black  soul,  whose  name  is,  "Public  Opinion." 
Presently,  you  and  I,  sir  and  madam,  will  beget  a  better 
one — God  speed  the  day ! 

Now  for  the  other  murderer.  He  has  too  much  tact 
and  finesse  to  be  caught,  caged,  and  strung  up.  Chem- 
istry can't  fasten  the  deed  on  him,  nor  can  skilful  detec- 
tives trip  him  up  ;  and  so  he  goes  along,  happy  as  a 
lark  in  the  day-time  i!  But  somehow  or  other  his  dreams 
are  devilishly  unpleasant!     Why? — Because  in  the 


DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD.         267 

silence  of  the  night,  when  deep  sleep  falleth  upon  men, 
a  spirit  passes  before  his  face,  bearing  a  very  astonishing 
resemblance  to  a  former  acquaintance  of  his,  now,  alas ! 
deceased  ;  and,  although  he  is  above  the  weakness 
of  believing  in.  "  spirits,"  yet  he  often  catches  himself  ex- 
claiming, "  By  God,  I  believe  it's  his  ghost  1" — an  out- 
creation  of  his  foul  within.  From  this  day  forward,  the 
invisible  fangs  of  Public  Opinion,  go  deeper  and  deeper 
into  his -soul — a  moral  augur,  sinking  an  artesian  shaft 
into  his  very  centre — until,  at  last,  the  waters  are 
reached,  and  burst  forth  in  one  full,  deep  stream  of 
agony — Kemorse.  The  executed  suffered  about  ten 
deaths,  in  expiation  of  the  one  life  he  took  ;  but  this 
wretch,  whose  crime  is  not  known,  suffers  a  dozen  deaths 
a  day. 

Now,  in  a  community  where  man-slaying  don't  count 
much  against  a  citizen,  this  fellow  would  not  have 
suffered  one  whit  more  than  did  the  soldier,  or  Jack 
Ketch.  *  *  *  *  I  said  that  there  were  two  kinds 
of  demons.  Having  described  one,  we  will  glance 
rapidly  at  the  other  ;  the  process  is  simple  enough.  A 
man's  elevation  on  the  scale  depends  upon  himself — if 
he  loves  disorder  more  than  its  opposite,  hatred  than 
love,  the  deformed  than  the  lovely — why,  the  man,  in 
so  far  forth  as  he  departs  from  rectitude  of  his  own 
purpose  and  will,  just  so  far  does  he  demonize  himself. 
And  as  there  is  no  limit  to  advancement  or  descension, 
so  he  may  become  guileful  to  an  immense-degree — be  a 
demon. 

There  are  myriads  of  such  within  the  compass,  and 
on  the  confines  of  the  Material  .Realms,  but  none  beyond 
them  in  the  Divine  City  of  Pure  Spirit.  But  within 
those  limits  exists  a  Badness,  so  awful,  so  vast,  that  the 


268         DEALINGS  WITH  THE  DEAD. 

soul  shrinks  before  the  terrible  reality.  These  beings 
cannot  injure  our  souls,  save  by  the  voluntary  co-opera- 
tion of  our  own  wills  and  loves. 

I  content  myself  with  this  brief  outline  now,  promising 
to  take  up  the  subject  hereafter.  In  this  book  I  have 
touched  only  a  few  of  the  lesser  truths  of  the  Universe, 
and  shall  go  deeper  next  time. 

All  these  things  came  to  me  as  I  floated  on  the  air. 
These  practical  lessons  I  received  from  Thotmor  and 
his  Cynthia,  and  from  my  own  spontaneous  Teachings 
forth.  Presently  Thotmor  looked  lovingly  upon  the 
maiden  at  his  side,  and  then  upon  myself.  She  turned 
to  me,  and  said,  "  This  lesson  will  do  for  the  present. 
Return  once  more  to,  earth."  *  *  *  *  Again,  a 
deep  sense  of  drowsiness  fell  upon  me,  and  seemingly, 
I  slept.  When  next  I  woke,  I  was  beneath  the  tree, 
and  the  golden  sun  was  setting. 

This  was  not  all  I  learned  ;  but  my  present  task  is 
finished.  Patience,  my  reader !  Since  these  truths  were 
written  I  have  received  a  message  from  beyond  the  sea. 
I  am  going  to  cross  it.  I  shall  speedily  return  and 
relate  to  you  and  all  my  brethren  the  things  I  there 
have  seen.    Till  then,  Adieu  ! 


CIRCULAR  NOTICE. 


POSITIVE  HVEEID  mOHNTE., 
I  take  this  method  of  informing  my  numerous  friends  and 
the  public  that  I  am  still  manufacturing  my  great  curatives, 
but  during  the  past  eight  years  have,  by  the  aid  of  the  high- 
est procurable  chemical  assistance,  been  enabled  to  bring 
them  to  a  state  of  perfection  that  leaves  nothing  to  be  de- 
sired in  that  direction.  Now,  as  in  years  past,  I  devote 
myself  to  one  speciality,  viz. :  the  treatment  of  nervous  and 
scrofulous  diseases.  In  addition  to  my  own  system,  that  of 
Dr.  P.  B.  Randolph  has  been  transferred  to  me  by  special 
deed,  and  the  public  well  know  that  amongst  the  thousands 
of  cases  of  an  especial  nature  treated  by  him,  not  two  per 
cent,  out  of  the  entire  number  but  were  perfectly  cured.  The 
combined  system  is  the  result  of  twenty  years  of  pro- 
found study.  The  diseases  I  treat  are  those  whose  ravages 
are  indeed  fearful,  but  which  are  seldom  understood,  and 
still  more  seldom  cured  by  ordinary  medical  practitioners. 
My  system  and  my  remedies  are  known  only  to  myself, 
and,  it  is  needless  to  state,  have,  for  the  last  ten  years, 
stood  alone  and  unequalled,  and  are  alike  adapted  to  the 
wants  of  either  sex.  In  accordance  with  my  system  of  Posi- 
tive Medicine,  in  every  case  I  furnish  just  what  Nature,  the 
only  great  Physician,  needs,  in  order  to  be  enabled  to  effect  a 
cure.  There  is  no  guess-work  at  all  about  the  matter,  but  I 
proceed  with  geometrical  precision  to  a  certain  and  foreseen 
result,  and  that  too,  not  by  Herb  teas,  or  deleterious  com- 
pounds of  any  sort,  but  by  means  of  an  Entirely  New  Class 
of  curative  agents.  Every  one  of  these  compounds  is  ele- 
gant in  appearance,  delicious  to  the  taste,  steady  and  uniform 
in  its  effects,  and  absolutely  Positive  in  curative  results,  a 
desideratum  never  before  attained  in  the  history  of  medicine. 
Por  instance  :  Chemical  research  has  enabled  us  to  bring  to 
light  a  hitherto  supposed  unattainable  combination  of  proxi- 
mate principles,  with  certain  ultimate  elements.  The  First 
of  which  is  named 


PHYMYLLE. 

It  is  the  only  remedy  extant  for  Spermatorrhea  or  Seminal 
losses  ;  is  the  most  efficient  agent  yet  discovered  in  cases  of 
Atony  and  morbidity  of  the  vital  apparatus  in  either  sex. 
In  Leucorrhea,  it  stands  alone.  It  is  the  agent  for  the  cure, 
not  only  of  the  Habit,  but  of  the  disastrous  effects  of  igno- 
rance, even  where  insanity  has  resulted  ;  because  it  supplies 
that  whereof  the  body  has  been  drained,  and  therefore  is 
indicated  in  all  affections  of  the  Brain,  Nervous  System  and 
Heart. 

There  are  those  who  prefer  to  have  written  formulas  to 
prepare  their  own  medicines.  To  such  I  send  them  at  $5 
per  case.     The  Second  Medicine,  my 

IRON  AND  MANGANESE  COMPOUND, 

is  a  certain  cure  for  Ovarian,  Uterine,  Prostatic  and  Yaginal 
Ulcerations,  as  well  as  for  Ulcers  in  the  Stomach,  Liver  and 
Intestines.  There  can  be  no  question  of  the  great  medicinal 
value  of  the  ferro-manganic  preparations.  This  syrup  is  used 
with  success  in  anaemic  cases,  scrofulous,  syphilitic,  and  can- 
cerous affections.  Each  fluid  ounce  of  the  syrup  contains 
fifty  grains  of  the  mixed  Iodides.  Dose,  from  10  drops  to  a 
fluid  drachm. 

The  diseases  herein  named,  which  I  treat,  exist,  and  there- 
fore ought  to  be  cured. s  It  is  my  business  to  do  this,  and 
this  is  my  only  apology  for  advertising  in  this  manner. 
Knowing  my  power  over  them,  I  feel  religiously  impelled  to 
use  it  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  need  my  skill. 

The  two  medicines,  used  conjointly  with  the  third,  is  a 
certain  and  positive  cure  for  Scrofula,  Fits,  Tape-Worm, 
Epilepsy,  Consumption,  Dropsy,  Dyspepsia,  Liver  Disease, 
Gravel,  Canker,  Rheumatism,  Insanity,  Ulcers,  Tumors,  Salt 
Rheum,  Spermatorrhea  or  Seminal  Weakness,  and  the  various 
affections  of  the  Stomach,  Brain,  Lungs  and  Heart,  Piles  and 
Fistula,  and  all  diseases  of  the  blood,  all  of  which  morbid 
conditions  can  only  be  removed  by  vacating  the  body  and 


blood  of  all  deleterious  substances  and  humors,  and  by  sup- 
plying the  elements  whereof  it  stands  in  need.  That  physi- 
cian is  a  fool  who  claims  or  expects  to"  cure  two  men  of  oppo- 
site temperament  of  the  same  disease,  with  one  medecine.  It 
cannot  be  done,  and  never  will  be,  else  Science  is  at  fault  ; 
which  cannot  be  the  case,  seeing  that  she  absolutely  demon- 
strates that  each  of  the  above  diseases  indicates  the  absence 
from  the  body  of  one,  two,  and,  in  certain  cases,  no  less 
than  seven  of  the  prime  elements  of  the  body.  My  remedies 
supply  these  elements  of  the  system,  and  thus  effect  the  cure. 
Remedy  No.  3  is  the 

INVIGORANT. 

Its  name  suggests  its  use  and  office,  either  alone  or  in  com- 
bination with  the  others.  It  will,  to  quote  the  language  of  a 
patient,  restored  by  its  use,  "  Put  life  in  hoary  age,  and  fire  in 
the  veins  of  ice  !"  not  by  mere  stimulations,  but  by  perma- 
nent invigoration.  Persons  who  have  become  exhausted  by 
folly,  study,  over-working  of  the  brain,  sedentary  habits  and 
excess,  have  herein  their  only  remedy.     No.  4, 

THE  EPILEPSY  AND  FITS  CURE, 

certain,  positive  and  invaluable.     No.  5, 

POWDERS, 

for  the  cure  of  diseases  of  either  sex,  arising  from  colds  and 
derangements  of  the  natural  system.  They  are  prepared  as 
ordered  only,  owing  to  the  high  cost  of  their  materials. 
They  are  sent  in  courses  at  six,  ten,  twenty  and  twenty-five 
dollars — sufficient  for  one  case — except  desperate  ones,  and 
at  these  prices  are  the  cheapest  medicines  in  the  world  ;  for 
they  do  their  work,  and  do  it  thoroughly  and  well.  In  con- 
nection with  this  subject,  allow  me  to  state  that  these  reme- 
dies are  sure  and  certain  ;  they  are  not  mere  catch-pennies — 
are  sold  at  high  prices  because  they  cost  high  to  manufac- 
ture. One  ingredient  alone,  in  numbers  one  and  three, 
is  imported  at  the  cost  of  80  cents  a  drachm.     In  this  con- 


nection  also,  let  me  state  that  all  persons,  sick  or  well,  should 
read  my  pamphlet  called  : 

"LOVE,  A  PHYSICAL  SUBSTANCE." 

A  NEW  AND  STARTLING  THEORY. 

Diseases  arising  from  perverted,  inverted,  retroverted, 
frozen  and  fevered  love  and  passion,  and  how  to  cure  them. 
Price  25  cents.  The  work  will  be  re-written,  improved  and 
enlarged  every  six  months. 

Address,  M.  J.  Randolph,  TJtica,  New  York. 


IMPORTANT  PUBLICATIONS. 

"It  Isn't  All  Right."  A  scorching  review  of  Dr.  A.  B. 
Child's  new  theory  that  "  Whatever  is,  is  Right'Wmurder, 
robbery,  rape,  war,  falsehood,  and  all  the  modern  abomina- 
tions included.  The  pamphlet  rips  the  horrible  fabric  all  to 
shreds.     Price,  15  cents. 

The  Unveiling  of  Modern  Spiritualism.  By  the  Con- 
verted Medium.  No  man  ever  had  a  more  thrilling  and  ter- 
rific experience  of  certain  phases  of  Spiritualism  than  the 
author  of  this  pamphlet.  It  reveals  the  secret  workings  of 
the  modern  theurgy  fuller  and  better  than  any  work  extant, 
besides  a  thorough  refutation  of  the  assertion  that  some  men 
are  not  immortal.     Price,  25  cents. 

In  preparation  :  Hashish  ;  Its  Uses  and  Abuses.  Being 
the  experience  of  three  souls  during  their  illumination  by 
means  of  this  terrible  drug.  The  thrilling  revelations  of  this 
pamphlet  exceed  anything  of  the  kind  ever  written.  It  de- 
tails the  curious  effects  of  Hashish— its  clairvoyance  power, 
and  what  several  souls  learned  while  under  its  wierd  and 
awful  influence — How  a  soul  lives  a  thousand  years  in  a  mo- 
ment of  time — Where  the  Hashish  world  is.  It  will  con- 
tain the  only  solution  of  this  mystery  ever  attempted — and 
the  true  one.  Sold  to  subscribers  at  50  cents  a  copy.  A 
limited  number  only  will  be  printed.  Issued  Sept.  1,  1861. 
Address  as  above. 


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